A New Year has begun! Everything feels shiny and new again. Every opportunity is a chance to grow, to improve our lives, to do away with the old and make way for the new. Just as each new year rings in new possibilities, new advances in hearing aid technology makes our celebrations sound much more pleasant.
Way back in 1895, Miller Reese Hutchison invented the Akouphone, the first electronic hearing aid. The device was so big, it required a table. But, by 1902, Hutchison had developed the Acousticon, a mobile, battery-powered device, which started the race for a smaller, better hearing aid.
Throughout the 20th century, hearing aid technology continued to improve with the advent of transistors, printed circuit boards and the continual miniaturization of electronic components. By the 21st century, the golden years of hearing aid technology had begun when digital hearing aids entered the market.
Nowadays, hearing aids don’t simply amplify sound, they shape it. The raw, electronic audio from older hearing aids never quite sounded like the real world. The sound was flat. New hearing aids expand that raw audio into three dimensions, in much the same way 3-D movies add depth to a flat movie screen.
When smartphones flooded the market and gave us all computers in our pockets, hearing aid technology advanced right along with them. They now connect directly to smartphones via Bluetooth, eliminating the need to have FM systems hanging around our necks. We can use the phone to control hearing aid settings, and we can use our hearing aids to not only hear what’s being said on the phone, but also hear the music and videos we enjoy.
With hearing aids, watching movies in social situations is often difficult, because any chatter tends to drown out the dialogue of the movie. And turning the volume up doesn’t help, because everyone else becomes uncomfortable. Now, we can plug a device into a TV or sound system and hear the movie at a comfortable level, so everyone can enjoy it.
Rechargeable batteries now eliminate the need to fiddle with tiny batteries. Plus, we no longer need to buy batteries and remember to pack extras when going out, since a charge lasts a full day.
We also have new hearing aids that combine all of those separate technologies into one seamless, plug-and-play package. They can now adapt to more environments than ever before and shape the sound accordingly, so we can hear the speech or music that we want to hear.
Every new year introduces new possibilities, and this year makes the world of sound more natural and pleasant than ever before. Come in to our clinic any time to check out the latest technology and see these improvements for yourself!
