What does a hearing aid do?
Emma Durazzo
Au.D.
Hearing aids are primarily used to improve the hearing and speech comprehension of individuals with sensorineural hearing loss, which results from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, known as hair cells. These devices work by capturing sound via a microphone, converting it into a digital signal, amplifying this signal with an amplifier, and delivering the amplified sound to the ear through a speaker. They are designed to amplify sounds in a particular range of pitches, which corresponds to the range where the hearing loss exists. This can include a variety of sounds, such as speech, the ringing of bells, the singing of birds, and conversations from people near you.