Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions you may have about hearing loss and hearing aids:
Prescription Hearing Aids:
- Medically diagnosed hearing loss
- Personalized professional fine-tuning and adjustments per feature and frequency
- Customized and discreet options
- Professional personalized fitting
- Unlimited features to maximize hearing success
- Verification and validation for maximum hearing aid success
- Professional service, care and regular maintenance
Self-Fitting OTC Hearing Aids
- Self-perceived hearing loss
- Self-adjusted volume, treble and overall sound quality preferences
- Universal ear tips, sizes XS-L
- Follow app guidance for devices to be set based on in app hearing profile check
- Limited features and access to adapt the hearing aids per need
- Online support materials, including instructional videos
- Self-cleaning maintenance of device
Hearing loss is something that is a very personal problem and it’s something that can slowly lead to alienation. We know that when someone is isolated the next step is going to be depression and depression that’s being caused by something that has a simple solution.
Can you hear conversations but have difficulty understanding them? Do you find yourself sitting closer to people in order to participate in conversations? Do others ask you to lower the TV or radio? If you’re over the age of 50 and you answered yes to any of these questions, you may already be suffering the symptoms of hearing loss and should have a hearing evaluation. New Generation Hearing offers many tests to determine if you do in fact have hearing loss and the type and degree.
You must first determine where you feel you’re having the most difficulties with hearing. Since the person who has the hearing loss isn’t the only one that suffers it’s important to also discuss the issue with close family members.
Based on that information, New Generation recommends a solution that is appropriate to try and resolve the situation; a hearing aid that is comfortable and will provide the hearing needed to communicate with the people around you.
Ever walk out of a night spot after hearing loud music and feel like your head is in a bucket? This is a type of hearing loss. It’s called temporary threshold shift and what’s happening is you’ve exposed your nerves to the point of exhaustion and they can no longer respond properly. By the next day you generally feel fine, but what you don’t realize is that you don’t recover 100% of what you lost that night; you recover 99%. So if each time you are exposed to that type of noise you only recover 99%, hearing loss can build overtime. Best practices is to wear invisible hearing protection.
As the level of technology increases, hearing aids become more automatic and have more features to help you communicate in difficult listening situations. For example, instead of using two channels to separate sound for processing, a hearing aid with advanced technology may have eight or more channels. This splits the signal into even smaller frequency bands and therefore offers a higher resolution of signal processing.
In addition to the basic hearing aid technology, each major hearing aid manufacturer offers several levels of advanced digital technology. More advanced technologies translate to greater benefits.
Bluetooth compatibility is a wireless feature that enables hearing aids to connect to mobile phones and other devices that use Bluetooth. Bluetooth technology has the ability to improve the signal to noise ratio and eliminate feedback from the microphone because the signal bypasses the microphone and directly enters the hearing aid’s processor.
Although fairly specific in its application, wind noise reduction can make a world of difference for those who spend time enjoying outdoor hobbies, like golfers and boaters. Wind noise reduction is an advanced hearing aid technology that detects the impact of the wind blowing across the hearing aid microphones and avoids or reduces the amplification of it.
The staff at New Generation Hearing Centers has knowledge base that comes from years of having worked with people who are hearing-impaired. Dr. Joseph K. Durán and his sister, Yvette Durán Someillán grew up around people who are hearing impaired and that gives them a more empathetic approach towards their patients.
The team at New Generation tailors hearing solution based upon their patients’ needs, budget and lifestyle.
It’s important to find a specific solution to your hearing needs both functionally and economically. Sometimes insurance will help offset the costs of hearing aids. At New Generation Hearing Centers we offer financing to facilitate the purchase of equipment; we don’t want costs to be the obstacle between you and the rest of the world.
Technology in hearing aids is evolving rapidly and we’re able to hone in on some of the major problems we had in the past. Hearing aids can now manage background sounds to really make speech pop when it counts and allows the person who is experiencing hearing loss follow conversations easily. There is also Bluetooth technology that integrates with other equipment such as cellphones.
New Generation offers our patients the ability to simply bring the instruments in and we’ll take care of it; it is part of what we offer our patients. We not only offer the best hearing solutions, but also help maintain the equipment so hearing aids keep functioning for the length of their life.
Some hearing aids have a feature that allows them to “learn” your preferences. By logging volume control settings and program preferences for certain sound environments, the hearing aids can begin to make these changes automatically when the environment is detected. Over time, this reduces your need to make manual adjustments.
Binaural processing means a pair of hearing aids communicates wirelessly with each other. This technology mimics the brain’s ability to process information coming from both ears and helps reduce manual adjustments. It is most commonly used to keep the hearing aids operating synchronously or to stream auditory signals from one hearing aid to the other.
Imagine sitting in a typical busy restaurant, having dinner with friends. Sounds are coming from all directions, such as dishes clanking, people talking and laughing at other tables and waiters rushing about. You’re wearing your new hearing aids and listening to a friend who is sitting across from you at the table. She’s telling a joke. Your hearing aids are simultaneously reducing impulse noises like silverware clanking onto a plate (impulse noise reduction), reducing the whir of the ventilation system above (digital noise reduction), suppressing the voices of the people at the tables behind you (directional microphone system) and storing information about the listening environment to be saved for later fine-tuning (learning features). They’re doing all of this automatically while amplifying and shaping the speech signal from your friend. You are free to relax and enjoy the punch line.
Let us help you
understand