Digital vs. Analogue Technology

There has been a lot of publicity about digital hearing aids. Digital aids use a digital signal processor rather than an analogue amplifier. The main difference between the two technologies is in the sound quality, in feed-back control, and in the flexibility of adjustment to suit different hearing losses - digital hearing aids are much more flexible than analogues.

There has also been some confusion between digitally programmed hearing aids (which are analogue devices programmed using a computer) and fully digital hearing aids (which are also computer-programmed.) Nevertheless, for some hearing losses an analogue hearing aid will give a very similar end result to the digital device, at a far smaller price.

Digital hearing aids are computer software driven and are much more accurate in amplifying the sounds when the human ear has lost the ability to hear. That is, being able to hear soft sounds and not over amplifying the loud sounds. They are also of benefit to those who have problems with feedback (whistle) with their analogue hearing aids. They also have special noise reduction, microphone systems for noisy environments.