Hearing Aids

Hearing loss affects around 48 million Americans. By age 65, it has been reported that one out of three adults have some degree of hearing loss.

You don’t have to live with hearing loss or outdated hearing solutions. Thanks to continued innovation, hearing aids can help restore your hearing, even in the most profound hearing loss cases. Here at Modern Hearing Solutions of Wyoming, our hearing instrument specialist will work with you to find the right hearing aids for your hearing needs.

WHAT ARE HEARING AIDS

Hearing aids are small devices which are designed to amplify sound so it can be transmitted to the auditory nerve. Depending on the design of the hearing aid, the main body of the device will either be located behind your ear or inside of your ear canal.

Beyond the ability to amplify sound, some hearing aids can also come with other helpful features. Some of these features are:

  • Tinnitus treatment – With the strong connection between hearing loss and tinnitus, many hearing aid manufacturers have developed hearing aids with built-in tools. Some programs, like Widex’s Zen Therapy, are more comprehensive in their tinnitus management than others.

  • Bluetooth syncing – You can turn your hearing aids into headphones and stream media directly into your hearing aids when you turn on your Bluetooth syncing. Some hearing aids have microphone accessories so you can stream calls into your hearing aids and use your phone hands-free.

  • Directional microphone – In noisy environments like restaurants and shopping centers, it can be tough to sort through the sounds bombarding your ears. Hearing aids with directional microphones will allow you to determine what direction you want to receive sound from, giving you greater control.

Not all hearing aids will come with these features, whether due to size restrictions or pricing. If you are interested in any particular feature, make sure to tell our hearing specialist as you are fitted for your hearing aids.

HOW YOU KNOW YOU NEED HEARING AIDS

Unless a person has suffered a traumatic event, hearing loss does not occur all at once. Instead, hearing loss happens gradually and over a long period of time. Our adaptive bodies do their best to make up for the incremental loss of our hearing, making it difficult to identify the early signs of hearing loss. However, it is important to catch hearing loss in its early stages.

Hearing loss which goes untreated will usually become worse. As your auditory nerve receives less and less sound input, it can begin to die. Once the auditory nerve starts to suffer this level of damage, correcting the hearing loss with hearing aids becomes more difficult. Also, speech comprehension is impacted, as the auditory nerve cannot transmit sounds as clearly to the brain.

To avoid these problems and catch your hearing loss early, you will need to know when you need hearing aids. A few signs which can help you catch your hearing loss are:

  • Trouble hearing conversations – Notice when you begin to have trouble following conversations with multiple people. As a group conversation has sound coming from multiple directions, those with hearing loss often can feel lost and miss the conversation of those who’s direction they are not facing.

  • Volume is too high – Turn down the volume on all your media devices to at least 50% of the max volume. After giving yourself time to acclimate to the sound difference, you should still be able to hear your entertainment. However, if you struggle with the volume being on lower levels, this may indicate a degree of hearing loss.

  • Frequent tinnitus – Often, tinnitus will come and go, triggered by various factors. However, as hearing loss becomes more profound, many people have noticed that their tinnitus becomes louder.

  • Difficulty hearing higher frequencies – Those with hearing loss often lose out on higher frequency sounds. This loss can make hearing the voices of young children and women difficult to hear, as they often have higher voices.

Beyond recognizing these signs, coming in for a regular hearing test can definitively identify if you have any hearing loss. Around your late 40s or early 50s, you should begin to come in for a yearly hearing exam, that way your hearing loss can be identified and treated in its early stages.

BASIC KINDS OF HEARING AIDS AVAILABLE

There are many hearing aid styles available, as everyone has different hearing needs. These styles of hearing aids fall into a few basic types.

Behind-The-Ear Hearing Aids

Halo2 Wireless RIC. Behind the ear.

Behind-The-Ear (BTE) style hearing aids are constructed so the main body of the hearing device is located behind the wearer’s ear. A thin tube extends from the device and leads down to the ear canal. Some BTE hearing aids come with earmolds which fill the outer shell of the ear and other come with small receivers which rest inside of your ear canal.

Inside-The-Ear Hearing Aids

Inside the ear hearing aids.

With Inside-The-Ear (ITE) hearing aids, the hearing device will rest primarialy inside of your ear. Some of the larger ITE hearing aids rest in the outer ear and other ITE hearing aids are practically invisible as they are tucked into the ear canal.

Rechargeable Hearing Aids

16 ZPower Micro RIC 312T. Rechargeable Hearing Aids

Rather than deal with tiny hearing aid batteries, you can choose rechargeable hearing aids. Not all styles of hearing aids are rechargeable. At this time, BTE-style hearing aids are the only ones designed to be rechargeable. If you are interested in rechargeable hearing aids, be sure to mention that to our hearing instrument specialist during your appointment.

You also can find hearing aids in a variety of colors. How many colors a hearing aid comes in will vary depending on the type of hearing aid and the hearing aid manufacturer.

WHERE TO FIND HEARING AIDS IN POWELL, WYOMING AND CODY, WYOMING

If you are looking for the best hearing aids dispenser in Wyoming, then you will want to come into Modern Hearing Solutions of Wyoming. Our office is located in Powell and Cody but we also serve:

  • Wapiti

  • Meeteetse

  • Lovell

  • Greybull

  • Worland

  • Thermopolis

We also serve the communities surrounding these towns. So, if you are looking for the best local hearing instrument specialist to provide you with your hearing aids, then contact us and set up an appointment today.