How hearing aids work.

In their simplest form, hearing aids perform like tiny amplifiers. All hearing aids have four basic components: microphone, amplifier, speaker, and batteries.

1. The microphone picks up sound and converts it into an electrical/digital signal.

2. An amplifier increases the strength of the signal. In more sophisticated devices the signal is manipulated by advanced processing. These improvements include:

• Improved speech understanding in noisy enviroments
• Increased gain without feedback
• Enhanced listening comfort and speech perception
• Ability to adjust hearing aid settings to match the specific needs of the wearer
• More precise directional capabilities

3. The speaker converts the signal back into sound and sends it to the inner ear where the brain interprets and understands the sound as speech.

4. Hearing aids are available with traditional button or rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

– By Starkey Hearing Technologies