My shift from an analog to a digital hearing aid By Victor J. Friedman

I have recorded some of my impressions from the change from an analog to a digital hearing aid. Approximately four months ago I purchased a "Senso" digital, in-the-ear hearing aid for my left ear. At the time I was using my old, analog hearing aid in my right ear.

I have been using a hearing aid for approximately seven years and I immediately experienced a difference between the old one and the digital. On the way home from the audiologist, I noticed new sounds such as the blinker in my car and the birds singing outside.

The greatest change was the ability to distinguish between the human voice and background noise. During the trial period, I noticed that in the first few moments the hearing aid would amplify the human voice and diminish the noise.

I was extremely sensitive to this change and was very pleased by it. I took notice of the ability to distinguish between sounds in many different situations. The difference was particularly salient on public transportation, airplanes, and other places with a lot of noise. Sometimes the hearing aid would focus in on and amplify voices that I was not trying to hear. For instance, I found myself on a train in Finland clearly hearing the conversation among people sitting in the seat behind me.

In general the sound of the digital hearing aid was quieter (less amplification) than the analog, but it was clearer and easier to distinguish the sounds. For the first time I was able to really hear a movie soundtrack on an airplane or to listen to a tape recorder with headphones. In those situations I think that the hearing aid was extremely helpful, perhaps even more than the ear itself, in distinguishing between voices and background noise, including the tape recorder itself. I also noted that I could hear the voices better when the tape recorder was adjusted at a relatively low volume.

One of the greatest differences is that the digital hearing aid is much less intrusive. The sound is more natural, since I don't need to adjust the volume. My feeling is that I hear much better than before and I am less dependent upon lip-reading. Nevertheless, I am not totally satisfied with my current level of functioning and want to do better. I intend to purchase a digital hearing aid for my right ear and hope that it will make a difference.

By Victor J. Friedman, South Africa