Hearing Aid Manufacturing Is Exact Medical Science
Hearing Aid Manufacturing Is Exact Medical Science
While they may not build rockets, hearing aid manufacturing is an exact science and much more sophisticated than the makers of some of the best audio equipment. Essentially, hearing aid manufacturing combines two main industries, audio amplification and medical as an ill-fitting hearing aid can cause additional hearing damage as well as physical discomfort. Their products are also controlled by the Food and Drug Administration and the FDA also handles any complaints concerning a specific company or appliance.
While maybe not as strict as other medical equipment makers, hearing aid manufacturing is still an evolving science that millions of people count on to better be able to hear sounds they may have thought to be lost forever. All hearing aid manufacturing is performed under strict federal guidelines as well as individual company quality assurance policies to insure the patient is continually happy with their hearing appliance.
The hearing aid industry has changed considerably in the past few years with digital hearing aids becoming more the norm than the exception it was during its formative years. The ability to amplify sounds had a major breakthrough in the 1980's with the realization that digital processing allowed specific sounds to be amplified. With hearing aid manufacturing growing constantly, digital processing is continuing to grow.
Blocking Specific Sounds Automatically
Initial programming of digital hearing aids, usually performed during hearing aid manufacturing, has become so sophisticated that today's units may have the capability similar to artificial intelligence. Being able to recognize and limit the throughput of unwanted sounds while letting certain other sounds, in the same frequency range through to the device. These automatically adjusting devices are making hearing aids more popular among hearing loss patients.
This can reduce the need for continuous programming as a hearing aid patient's circumstance and environment changes. Most digital hearing aids are adjusted during hearing aid manufacturing and final programming is performed by the technician during its fitting to the patient. In today's terms, fitting is not only about making sure the appliance properly fits the patient's ear, but also the correct filtering is programmed into the device to meet the individual needs.
Some hearing loss may involve sounds in the upper frequencies and other may lose sound in lower ranges, still others have problems separating conversation from background noises. The newer digital hearing aids, once programmed, can amplify the frequency the patient has the most trouble understanding more than the frequency offering less trouble based on individual characteristics.