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In-the-canal hearing aid
These hearing aids sit inside the ear canal (the “hole” in the ear) or deeper within the ear canal. They are molded specifically to fit an individual’s ear(s) and are sometimes difficult to spot; especially if the student’s hair covers their ears.
The microphone on the hearing aid picks up sound and voices close by. The sound then in turn, gets amplified and is sent out to the eardrum, through the middle ear and inner ear and ultimately up to the brain.
These hearing aids typically run on very small batteries that are changed about every 3 to 5 days depending on how powerful the hearing aids are. They turn on and off by opening and closing the battery door and they may or may not have a volume control directly on the hearing aid itself. The volume is typically controlled via an “app” on newer models.
Students with these types of hearing aids often have a permanent, mild to moderate hearing loss. This means that they can hear loud conversational speech without their hearing aids. It also means that their hearing loss cannot be improved by medical or surgical interventions. Their outer and middle ears typically work well but their inner ear (which includes the cochlea and auditory nerve) needs sound to be louder to be able to detect and send the sounds up to the brain. They may have hearing loss in one ear (which is called a unilateral hearing loss) or both ears.
Although these hearing aids allow students to hear well, it is important to keep in mind that they are listening through a microphone.
A different view of an in-the-canal hearing aid
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