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Hearing Aid Technology Should Be Determined on a Case-by-Case Basis

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2000;126:1399.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The author fails to clearly define the term "conventional analog aids." There are mainly 3 types of hearing aids: digital aids, digitally programmable aids, and nonprogrammable analog aids. According to a well-known MarkeTrak study (MarkeTrak V),¹ satisfaction with programmable technology is 16% higher than with nonprogrammable aids. Regarding cost-effectiveness, it would have been well for the author to have included results from a relevant study by Newman and Sandridge.²

Figure appears in full text version. Jack Hough, MD

Digital hearing aids can be more than just expensive and complicated copies of analog hearing aids. They offer the possibility of new features that are impossible to implement in the design of conventional analog hearing aids: programmability, flexibility in fitting, control of acoustic feedback, noise reduction, automatic control of signal levels, self-adaptive adjustment to changing acoustic environments, self-monitoring for recruitment, management of masking, and others.

Appropriate selection of technology (digital, digitally programmable, or analog) is only 1 aspect . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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