Hearing aids
How do I choose
the right hearing aid?
How do I know which hearing aid will be best for me?
Your hearing professional can help you zero in on just the right hearing aid for your needs. The nature and degree of your hearing loss will factor into your decision, as some styles are not effective for severe hearing loss.
Your lifestyle and job are important factors too, and your hearing professional will also ask about the activities you enjoy. If you have difficulty seeing or working with small objects like buttons or dials, there are hearing aid models that can make adjusting your hearing aid much easier. Finally, there are some things you cannot change like the size and shape of your ear and ear canal which will also dictate the type of hearing aids you can wear.
Start your research with our Hearing Aid Finder Tool, and work with your hearing professional to find the best choice for you.
When considering hearing aid features, it's important to consider your lifestyle and environments you frequent.
- What hearing situations bother you the most?
- Are there certain sounds or voices you have trouble hearing?
- On an average day what do you do? Where do you go?
- How often do you frequent noisy environments like restaurants, shopping centers, places of worship or sporting facilities?
Discovering and choosing hearing aid features
Every hearing aid manufacturer and hearing aid professional talks about aligning your “lifestyle” needs to your hearing aid features. A lifestyle analysis pinpoints the most common and important situations, activities and places in which you want to increase your ability to hear and understand voices — and helps you align your needs to specific hearing aid features.
Think of hearing aids as “communication devices” along the same lines as a cell phone. When you purchase a cell phone you consider and prioritize the ways you will use it and purchase features accordingly. For example, if you will often use your cell phone in dim light, you will opt for a backlit keypad. If you do not want others to be bothered by your ring tones or have difficulty hearing it yourself, you will purchase a phone with a “vibrate” alert feature.
It’s the same equation when considering hearing aid features. It is helpful to understand what is available, how digital hearing aids work, which ones work with your type of hearing loss, and which features will help you optimize communication in your life.