Hearing Aids Trends In 2012
Hearing aids have come a long way since their invention in the 16th century, including advancements in the 19th century and the digital technological breakthrough 15 years ago. Nowadays, hearing aids are offered in a variety of styles, forms and performance levels. The most important achievement, however, is that they are able to meet the needs of the vast majority of hard of hearing and find solutions for people with a mild to profound hearing loss, regardless of their age.
The transformation that hearing aids have undergone through the years is remarkable. They have substantially changed their size to become virtually invisible, use mainly digital technology that provides much more possibilities for a better sound quality which can be applied to conditions that until recently have not been treated with any aid.
The last decade has marked an increasing trend in awareness campaigns and open discussions about the problems of hearing impairment and the opportunities the different hearing aids provide for improvement of the wearer’s lifestyle. Manufacturers compete in developing new and more efficient technologies that will most accurately resemble natural sounds, not just amplify them, and be able to better locate the direction of the sound and decrease feedback and background noise even more.
Modern hearing aids can offer sound quality that was not possible several years ago and still many newer models are improved and equipped with additional features. Hearing aids are becoming hearing systems that interact with all types of devices such as telephones, mobile phones, TVs and MP3 Players allowing wearers to benefit from all of them and communicate effortlessly despite their hearing impairment.
Hearing aid development in 2012 continues the process of creating small and at the same time powerful and durable hearing aids and improving or combining models. An example is the innovative Persona Olé that is a tiny canal aid and at the same time an open fit hearing aid using AirTouch™ Multi-Memory. Persona Olé’s features focus on feedback and background noise management and better speech and music appreciation.
Research is also headed in the direction of providing hearing aids with an even more sophisticated digital sound processing that will be able to recognize all types of sounds and reproduce them simultaneously in a way that will almost completely imitate the human ear.
Hearing aid manufacturers are also trying to find a solution for a wider range of hearing loss types and constantly improve technologies for conditions that require surgical intervention and that can benefit from aids such as cochlear implants and bone anchored hearing aids.
Moreover, the competitive market strives to produce hearing aids that have long lasting batteries that do not need frequent changes and very soon, rechargeable hearing aids may gradually replace the regular zinc-air batteries.
Trends in the hearing aids market for 2012 include mainly efficiency, discreet size and design, improved digital sound and affordable prices and these are expected to convince more people with a hearing loss to try the benefits of hearing aids and to experience the positive influence they will have on daily routines, communication and entertainment.