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Martin Brown[_2_]

On 03/07/2019 15:55, wrote:
Have they improved much over the past few yeasr. Quote:

The step change was around 2000 when sophisticated digital hearing aids
came onto the market for the first time. They have improved a bit since
then getting smaller and smarter at picking out wanted signal from noise
and sometimes mapping real world frequencies onto the ones you can still
hear (no good at all for listening to music).

They can recognise your favourite restaurant Modern digital hearing
aids are self-learning. That means they get to know your preferred
settings for places you go to and adjust automatically.

They know when youre having a one-to-one conversation Our hearing
aids dont just turn up the volume, they identify the sounds you want
to hear and filter out the ones you dont. So even in a noisy room,
you can hear the person youre talking to clearly above the
background chatter.

They can help you watch TV Special technology can send the sound from
your TV or stereo direct to your hearing aids. So you can easily hear
your favourite programmes or listen to music without disturbing
others.

So clever, they can answer your phone for you With a discreet remote
control in your pocket or handbag, you can answer your mobile phone
at the click of a button. Youll enjoy clear conversations as you
listen to the call through your hearing aids.

They even listen to each other At Specsavers we give you two hearing
aids for the price of one, programmed to work together. So when the
settings in one hearing aid change, the other responds to give you
perfectly balanced, all-round hearing.

Is all if this true or is it marketing hype?

It is at least partly true. My father was regularly on firing position
on WWII antiaircraft guns and went deaf in later life as a result. He at
one point had to get a private digital hearing aid to be able to hear at
all in complex situations - though he could lip read pretty well
provided that you were facing him.

By the time that one had reached end of life the NHS ones had gone
digital and were a step up from the one he had bought privately. The
main thing that you get by paying for them is mostly a smaller physical
size and shorter battery life. The NHS ones pretty much kept pace with
his declining hearing with each successive generation after that.

Try the NHS first before you part with any money for a private one.

NHS ones clip over the back of the ear and have a custom moulding to fit
the ear. Most of the private ones now fit entirely inside the ear.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown