Choosing the Right Hearing Aid - Turning Up a Whisper

There are so many hearing aids on the market that sometimes it can feel a little bit overwhelming.
How are you supposed to know what the best option for you is? There are several factors that determine the power and versatility of the aid.
In general, there's a compromise between size and power: the more powerful the hearing aid, the bulkier it will be.
Price also plays a large factor which will determine your hearing aid options.
Generally, hearing aids can be broken down into the following categories, all of which have both advantages and disadvantages.
Completely in the Canal The smallest aids are called completely-in-the-canal hearing aids, and are molded to fit inside the ear canal.
They can improve mild to moderate hearing loss, but their power is limited due to the small batteries required in such small models.
Additionally, the smaller batteries do not last as long as the larger ones.
However, they are small and discrete, work easily with the telephone, and are less likely to pick up wind noise because they fit inside the ear.
In the Canal Larger than completely-in-the-canal hearing aids, are specially molded to fit partly into an individual's ear canal, although it doesn't fit as deeply as its smaller cousin.
It is less noticeable than larger models, which also comes at the cost of power and battery life.
However, they have more features than the completely-in-the-canal models, which are too small to feature many options.
In the Ear (Full Shell) Made to fit into the outer ear, and is good for people with anywhere from mild to severe hearing loss.
Although it is more visible and can pick up background wind noise, it has easy-to-adjust features like volume control and has larger batteries that can last much longer than the smaller ones in in-the-ear aids.
Behind the Ear These aids are strapped to the top of your ear and sit behind the ear itself.
These models work for all ranges of hearing loss and are available for people of all ages.
While they are generally speaking the most obvious of hearing aids, newer models are reducing the size.
Behind-the-ear aids also have the most amplifying power of all hearing aids.