About

Hearing aid is an electronic device that helps people with hearing loss to hear better and communicate more effectively. Only 1 out of 5 people benefit from a hearing aid as there are some limitations in its design. New Digital hearing aids and Cochlear implant are recent advances to make these devices more sensitive.

Hearing Aids are worn behind the ear. The hearing aids consists of three essential parts -

Microphone- converts the sound saves into electrical signals and sends them to the amplifier.
Amplifier- increases the power of the signals received from the microphone.
Speaker – sends the signals to the ear.

Hearing aids are helpful to people with a sensori-neural hearing loss i.e. loss which results due to damage of the sensory cells (hair cells) in the inner ear.

Important Causes of hearing loss –

Old age
Disease
Injury- due to loud noise or medicines

A hearing aid magnifies the sound waves entering the ear. The existing sensory cells detect the sound vibrations, convert them into neural signals and transmit it to the brain.

Greater the damage to the sensory cells- greater is the hearing loss- greater is the need for sound amplification.

General practitioners generally refer patients with hearing loss to an audiologist or otolaryngologist.

Who is an Audiologist & ENT Specialist or OTOLARYNGOLOGIST

AUDIOLOGIST	OTOLARYNGOLOGIST
Health professional who assesses the degree and type of hearing loss after conducting a hearing test.	Health professional who specializes in ENT disorders (ear, nose and throat) and investigates the cause of hearing loss.