There are some 28 million Americans with hearing loss in the country today.  Of those 28 million Americans, approximately 5.5 million own hearing aids and of these people only about one million actually wear them.

 One might ask why that is and the answer would be that hearing aids have a stigma attached to them unlike eyeglasses or dentures that actually could enhance a person’s looks while helping to correct an impairment.  Many people associate hearing loss with the elderly when in fact about 70 percent of all people with a hearing loss are under the age of 65.  Younger and younger people are experiencing hearing loss due to a variety of reasons, many of them personal listening devices such as MP3 players and iPods.  There is also a large population of baby boomers that worked in factories and did not properly care for their hearing while doing so, in this case causing them to lose a significant amount of their hearing.

 Many manufacturers of hearing aids have made many strides to enhance the performance, the look and the size of today’s hearing aids.  Long gone are the big bulky black boxes one used to have to strapped to their chest in order to get some type of hearing assistance, these were usually more of a ‘hit or miss’ type gamble than actual help.  Today there are digital hearing aids with advanced technology that allows a hearing impaired person to distinguish voices from noise and block out background noise in crowded areas such as restaurants.

 An audiologist would be the best person to help a hearing impaired individual choose the right hearing aid for their type of hearing loss.  Searching the Internet for hearing aid reviews and comparisons might help an individual narrow their search down but an audiologist helps with sound quality and a fitting of the hearing aid mold to make sure there is no air getting into the ear at the same time to avoid static or whistling which other people can sometimes hear.

 Another advancement in hearing aid technology is the disposable hearing aid that is targeted for those people with mild to moderate hearing loss, usually in the range of 40 to 60 years of age.  The disposable hearing aid is designed to run 12 hours a day and last 40 days.  It’s a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model designed to fit the most common size adult ear.  It is manufactured without a battery, therefore the company was able to increase the microphone’s size allowing the wearer to hear better.

 No matter what a person’s preference, either the disposable hearing aid or the advanced digital hearing aids, a trip to the audiologist will help a person determine what size and style is best for their degree of hearing loss.  But like with all things, if a person does not use them they do not work.