Hearing aid technology has come a long way since the large black boxes individuals used to have to strap to their chest and then use to ear-buds that traveled from the black box up to their ears making it impossible to hide the fact that they were wearing a hearing aid.  Today’s technology in hearing aids consists of microchip computer equipment in order to fit into it the smallest space because many of the hearing aids are now placed inside the ear canal and go virtually undetected.

A hearing impaired person or a nearly complete deaf person would see an audiologist in order to be fitted for a hearing aid.  A hearing aid will allow a hearing impaired person to pick up sounds and voices but they will also rely on reading lips or American Sign Language – ASL in order to fill in the gaps of what they cannot hear with the aid of the hearing aid.

It was somewhere during the 60s and 70s when hearing aid technology, along with a lot of other electronic items, began to shrink down to size and the ‘over the ear’ hearing aid was born.  The hearing aids, much like those worn today, feature an in the ear mold with a small tube running up and behind the ear to the hearing device which contains all the wires and transistors to help the hearing impaired individual hear different sounds.

When an individual is told they need a hearing aid in order to hear better, it is best to seek the help of an audiologist in order to get the best fit in addition to the best type of hearing aid for their lifestyle and budget. Statistics have recently shown that one in five people who need to wear hearing aids wear them and the other four simply do not wear them and “fake” their way through conversations; however most people they talk to realize they cannot hear after the third time they have said “what?”