Custom programmable hearing aids can be tuned to amplify sounds at just the right levels to compensate for your hearing loss over a range of frequencies.
To buy a custom hearing aid, first you need to get a medical checkup to make sure your hearing loss can be helped with hearing aids. Then you must get your hearing checked and tested by an audiologist, a certified hearing aid fitter, or another hearing health professional. (See “How to Buy a Hearing Aid.”)
The result of the test, or audiogram, shows which frequencies need what levels of amplification. People usually start having trouble hearing high-pitched sounds, so your first pair of hearing aids may have amplification at high frequencies with little or no amplification at lower frequencies.
Programmable hearing aids vary greatly in their range of processing power and in the number of channels or bands covering the frequencies where amplification levels can be set. Therefore prices can range from under $1,000 to more than $3,000 for each hearing aid.
All the major hearing hearing aid manufacturers have developed sound processing software that can be used to program their hearing aids. Your audiologists or hearing aid fitter needs to be up to speed on the manufacturer’s software to program your hearing aids effectively. And often multiple adjustments to the programming are required to get sound quality and amplification levels that work for you.
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