What are Assistive Listening Devices?
Many hearing aid wearers wonder why they might need an assistive listening device when they have invested so much in their hearing system? After all, shouldn’t their new hearing aids mean they’re hearing better now?
The technology in modern hearing aids is exceptional. However when it comes to hearing the TV clearly, taking phone calls, hearing in noisy groups or meetings, an assistive device can give the wearer a significant advantage.
Many wearers of hearing aids (and professionals too) misunderstand the effective distance that hearing aids operate at before their performance is significantly reduced. To hear effectively we need to have what we call good signal to noise ratio (SNR). Hearing aids help to filter out noise and increase the signal (speech) so the wearer can hear effectively. Up to a distance of 6 feet all of the features within hearing aids work efficiently at filtering out this background noise. However, beyond 6 feet, their effectiveness reduces dramatically. This means that a wearer can be left feeling frustrated that their hearing aids are not performing for them in these situations.
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