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Hear­ing aids help to restore the full per­cep­tion of sounds and speech today. Spe­cial­ized stores and phar­ma­cies sell var­i­ous devices for hear­ing cor­rec­tion. But can they be used in old age and will they wors­en the sit­u­a­tion?

To fit a hear­ing aid, you need to con­sult a doc­tor. Only a spe­cial­ist can help in choos­ing the most opti­mal device so that its use is com­fort­able, does not pro­voke com­pli­ca­tions and fur­ther hear­ing loss. The edi­tors chose the top 10 devices that may suit the elder­ly.

Top 10 hearing aids for the elderly

1. Octave NOTE 16HP

Octave NOTA 16HP is a heavy duty hear­ing aid that is suit­able for old­er peo­ple with severe to pro­found hear­ing loss. Thanks to its ergonom­ic design and quick adapt tech­nol­o­gy, it is com­fort­able for the wear­er and almost invis­i­ble to oth­ers.

This hear­ing aid is rec­og­nized as the best for clear and nat­ur­al sound with­out extra­ne­ous noise. Var­i­ous micro­phone modes ensure speech intel­li­gi­bil­i­ty in any acoustic envi­ron­ment. The device has sev­er­al noise reduc­tion sys­tems that make back­ground noise invis­i­ble and soft­en harsh sounds. There is also a wind noise sup­pres­sion func­tion — this is impor­tant for those who are used to spend­ing time out­doors, for exam­ple, in the coun­try or fish­ing.

The device has 4 pro­grams, between which you can switch using the but­ton. There is a data log­ging func­tion that records infor­ma­tion about the oper­at­ing mode and allows you to cus­tomize the machine to the needs of the user. The device runs on a 675 bat­tery, the charge of which is enough for about 3–4 weeks.

Main characteristics

Pros and cons

Line of hear­ing aids NOTA^® con­sists of 12 behind-the-ear clas­sic mod­els of three capac­i­ties (medi­um pow­er, pow­er­ful and extra pow­er­ful) and is pre­sent­ed in the mid­dle price seg­ment. The cost depends on the num­ber of sig­nal pro­cess­ing chan­nels, applied tech­nolo­gies, such as noise reduc­tion, feed­back sup­pres­sion, impulse noise sup­pres­sion, wind noise sup­pres­sion, etc. Detailed tech­ni­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics of the com­pa­ny’s hear­ing prod­ucts are pre­sent­ed on the offi­cial web­site of Hear­ing aids NOTA^® (oktavasluh.ru).

Octave NOTA 16HP

Nat­ur­al sound with­out back­ground noise

This heavy duty hear­ing aid is suit­able for old­er peo­ple with severe to pro­found hear­ing loss. 3 micro­phone modes Octave NOTA 16HP ensure speech intel­li­gi­bil­i­ty in any envi­ron­ment.

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2. Phonak Bolero B70-SP

A heavy-duty busi­ness-class hear­ing aid helps com­pen­sate for mod­er­ate to severe hear­ing loss. The clas­sic behind-the-ear mod­el is based on the Belong plat­form. The acoustic envi­ron­ment recog­ni­tion algo­rithm con­stant­ly ana­lyzes the sound envi­ron­ment and auto­mat­i­cal­ly selects the set­tings for the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion. Accord­ing to the man­u­fac­tur­er, this pro­vides a com­fort­able per­cep­tion of speech, music and oth­er sounds at home, on the street, in the car and in a pub­lic place. Switch­ing between pro­grams is car­ried out auto­mat­i­cal­ly with­out user inter­ven­tion. Mul­ti­ple noise reduc­tion sys­tems neu­tral­ize extra­ne­ous sounds, includ­ing whis­tle and feed­back echo. There is a mem­o­ry func­tion that remem­bers user adjust­ments and auto­mat­i­cal­ly applies these val­ues. The hear­ing aid runs on 13 bat­ter­ies and is housed in a dust- and mois­ture-proof hous­ing.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

3. Widex UNIQUE U‑FP 330

A pow­er­ful behind-the-ear dig­i­tal device helps to com­pen­sate for severe and deep hear­ing loss. This mod­el comes in a dust and splash resis­tant case and is avail­able in 5 dif­fer­ent col­ors. The nano-coat­ing on the case repels mois­ture and dirt and makes it eas­i­er to care for the device.

The device is able to cap­ture and process sig­nals of dif­fer­ent fre­quen­cies, which allows the own­er to more accu­rate­ly per­ceive the acoustic envi­ron­ment. There is a feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem and a tin­ni­tus gen­er­a­tor to neu­tral­ize whistling, echoes and own tin­ni­tus. The noise reduc­tion sys­tem masks back­ground noise, impulse sounds and wind noise. The mod­el is com­pat­i­ble with wire­less devices and acces­sories, con­trolled by but­tons on the case, from a phone or remote con­trol.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

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4. ReSound LiNX Quattro RE588

Pow­er­ful pre­mi­um dig­i­tal device. All incom­ing sounds are divid­ed into chan­nels and processed using WRAP tech­nol­o­gy so that the own­er receives an accu­rate and detailed sound. Accord­ing to the man­u­fac­tur­er, Noise Track­er II tech­nol­o­gy “cleans­es” speech sig­nals from extra­ne­ous noise, which allows you to hear well in noisy envi­ron­ments. The tin­ni­tus gen­er­a­tor masks your own tin­ni­tus, while the feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem cuts out whis­tles and echoes before the user notices them.

The mod­el can con­nect to wire­less devices on the iOS and Android plat­forms. The device has 4 pro­grams that can be con­trolled using a but­ton and a mobile appli­ca­tion. The hear­ing care pro­fes­sion­al can fine-tune remote­ly using ReSound Assist tech­nol­o­gy and the ReSound Smart 3D app. The unit is equipped with a tele­coil and direct audio input (DAI).

Characteristics

Pros and cons

5. Oticon Xceed 1 BTE SP

This super-pow­er­ful mod­el is suit­able for old­er peo­ple with II-IV degrees of hear­ing loss. Behind-the-ear hear­ing aids are able to rec­og­nize and muf­fle any unwant­ed noise and iso­late the desired sound sig­nals. Thanks to this, the user can hear well in noisy envi­ron­ments and talk to sev­er­al peo­ple at once. There is a feed­back sup­pres­sion func­tion and a tin­ni­tus gen­er­a­tor. The device can auto­mat­i­cal­ly change set­tings based on the pref­er­ences of the own­er, is con­trolled using but­tons, a mobile appli­ca­tion and a remote con­trol. Com­pat­i­ble with var­i­ous Blue­tooth devices and acces­sories. Allows you to com­fort­ably talk on the phone, lis­ten to music, watch TV. The dis­ad­van­tages of the device include a very high price and large size.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

6. Source Audio Bagheera Pro-01

Behind the ear hear­ing aid with dig­i­tal sig­nal pro­cess­ing is suit­able for old­er peo­ple with II-III degree of hear­ing loss. The device has a pro­gram that can scan the acoustic envi­ron­ment and inde­pen­dent­ly deter­mine the desired direc­tion of the sig­nal. This ensures clear and intel­li­gi­ble speech even in noisy indoor and out­door envi­ron­ments. The device is equipped with a four-lev­el noise reduc­tion sys­tem, a feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem and a tin­ni­tus gen­er­a­tor. Com­pat­i­ble with FM sys­tems and equipped with a sen­si­tive tele­coil. Hous­ing with an IP68 pro­tec­tion index is resis­tant to dirt, dust and mois­ture.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

7. A&M XTM XP P6

The heavy duty behind-the-ear hear­ing aid is designed for peo­ple with severe to pro­found hear­ing loss. The man­u­fac­tur­er promis­es high com­fort of use thanks to sev­er­al use­ful options. Noise Man­ag­er mon­i­tors the acoustic envi­ron­ment, sup­press­es unwant­ed sig­nals and improves speech intel­li­gi­bil­i­ty. The feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem neu­tral­izes whis­tle and echo in a time­ly man­ner. The built-in data analy­sis log cap­tures infor­ma­tion about the oper­at­ing modes that the user prefers, which will lat­er be use­ful to the audi­ol­o­gist for more pre­cise tun­ing. You can use the but­ton, smart­phone or remote con­trol to oper­ate the machine. The mod­el comes in an IP67 enclo­sure.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

8. Bernafon Inizia 3N

The chan­nel­less dig­i­tal behind-the-ear device can be used by old­er peo­ple with I‑II degrees of hear­ing loss. The com­pact mod­el runs on 312 bat­ter­ies. Three cus­tomiz­able pro­grams and vol­ume con­trol allow the own­er to choose the most con­ve­nient mode of oper­a­tion. The adap­tive noise reduc­tion sys­tem helps to neu­tral­ize extra­ne­ous sounds and high­light the speech sig­nal. Thanks to the feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem, the user is not dis­turbed by echo and whis­tle while using the device. The mod­el is able to adapt to the pref­er­ences of the own­er with the help of detec­tors that mon­i­tor the acoustic envi­ron­ment and improve the func­tion­al­i­ty of the device.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

On a note

Choos­ing a hear­ing aid for the elder­ly is not easy: how to do it

9Aurica Pixel 860DP

The Auri­ca Pix­el 440DSP behind-the-ear dig­i­tal device helps with II-III degree hear­ing loss. The advan­tages of the mod­el include the abil­i­ty to scan the sound envi­ron­ment, rec­og­nize and ampli­fy even qui­et speech and neu­tral­ize extra­ne­ous sounds. The device has a feed­back sup­pres­sion sys­tem that masks echo and whis­tle in a time­ly man­ner. And the tin­ni­tus gen­er­a­tor helps elim­i­nate sub­jec­tive tin­ni­tus. Thanks to the data log­ging log, the device “remem­bers” pop­u­lar set­tings for the user. With this infor­ma­tion, the audi­ol­o­gist can fine-tune the device. The mod­el has a water­proof hous­ing with a nano-coat­ing that repels mois­ture, dust and pol­lu­tion.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

10. Rhythm Mond P

An inex­pen­sive dig­i­tal chan­nel­less hear­ing aid can be used by old­er peo­ple with II-III degrees of hear­ing loss. Sev­er­al noise reduc­tion sys­tems help to neu­tral­ize back­ground noise, unwant­ed low-fre­quen­cy sounds, wind noise, as well as feed­back — whistling dur­ing use of the device. There is a func­tion that allows you to make the inter­locu­tor’s speech more intel­li­gi­ble. The built-in data log­ging diary cap­tures infor­ma­tion about the most pop­u­lar set­tings for the own­er. The mod­el is equipped with a tele­coil and an exter­nal vol­ume con­trol. Works on a bat­tery.

Characteristics

Pros and cons

How to choose a hearing aid for the elderly

Andrey Sle­sarev, head of the audi­ol­o­gy room at the Region­al Clin­i­cal Hos­pi­tal in Tver, doc­tor of the high­est cat­e­go­ry, told We about how to choose hear­ing aids for the elder­ly, as well as what nuances you need to pay atten­tion to.

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