What Is A Hearing Aid?

As the beginning, we generally spend the first part of the day in a relatively quiet environment. Next up may be a daily routine or activity in different sound situation. As the day unfolds, listening environments become more diverse and demanding. We want all of you to be comfortable for each of these situations. The good news is that current hearing aid technology can help you in many ways.

What is a hearing aid?

A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes sounds louder, clear and comfortable; so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations.

Does hearing aids harmful to my hearing?

Believe it or not this is one of the biggest fears people have with purchasing hearing aids. I often get asked what the repercussions of buying a hearing aid and only wearing it part of the time. Well, the answer to this is no; the gradual progression of hearing loss will occur whether you are wearing hearing aids or not.

However, if you have hearing loss and you don’t wear hearing aids, your discrimination of speech is likely to get worse faster than if you were wearing hearing aids. It all goes back to the “use it or lose it” principle. When you have any degree of hearing loss, you are missing certain sounds that you are meant to hear. The less you hear, the less stimulation that your hearing nerve and your brain are getting.

Nerves in our body require active stimulation. If that stimulation is taken away then the nerve stops working as well. The longer the nerve is without stimulation, the less active your brain becomes in processing sound. The part of the brain that processes sound is called the auditory cortex, and it is similar to your body as a whole; it needs exercise to stay healthy. If you are living with hearing loss then your auditory nerve is not getting the amount of stimulation from sounds that it needs to keep functioning well. This can lead to a decrease in your ability to recognize speech, even when you are able to hear it.

Wearing hearing aids will ensue that your hearing nerves and your brain are getting the accurate stimulation to keep functioning. The longer you go without wearing hearing aids, the less stimulation you get and the worse your speech discrimination will become. Unfortunately once the nerve is affected, there is no way to reverse it.

Hearing aid has resolutions not only for face to face situation but also for:

- Listening to the TV or Talking on the phone

- Following conversation on noisy environments

- Listening to music

- Attending meetings or presentations

- Spending times outdoors

Brands of Hearing Aids

Although there are differences between hearing aid brands, only the major brands have high levels of quality and performance. At WS Audiology, we only work with the top brands of hearing aids that are proven in quality, digital processing, reliability and performance in difficult listening situations. The brand we dispensing includes

- Phonak

- Unitron

- Starkey

- Widex

- Oticon

- Signia

- ReSound

Styles of Hearing Aids

Hearing aids contain a microphone that collects the sound, a micro sound processing computer to help filter and amplify the sounds, and a speaker that plays the sound to the ear. Each style of hearing aid contains these components in a different configuration. Choosing a hearing aid style depends on a combination of both your individual hearing loss as well as your cosmetic preferences. We have all styles listed below:

- Receiver in the canal style

- Behing the ear style

- In the ear style

Insurance Coverage For Hearing Aids & Care

Does my insurance cover hearing aids? Do my benefits cover testing and other services? Will Medicare pay for hearing aids? Most of health insurance plans pay for diagnostic audiologic evaluation, counseling, auditory rehabilitation; some provide reimbursement for dispensing of hearing aids and amplification devices. Each plan differs in their amount of benefits for audiology services and hearing aid insurance coverage. We want to help you maximize your plan benefits, so make sure that you bring in your insurance card so we can help to find out what you may be entitled to. For whatever isn’t covered, we offer financing plans to help you.

Financing for Your Hearing Aids

Interest-Free Financing for Hearing Aids is Available Through This Special Hearing Aid Financing Program – Get Hearing Aid Financing with CareCredit, which is a healthcare credit card. Your hearing is too important to let financial ability get in the way! We offer CareCredit so you can avoid paying interest by making your minimum monthly payments and paying the full amount by the end of the payment period.