| If you are one of the millions of Baby Boomers | | | | lodges behind the user's ear. Sound first gets |
| working on their sixth decade on planet Earth, you | | | | processed in the behind-the-ear casing, and then |
| may have noticed that the sounds of birdsong and | | | | moves along the acoustic tube and enters the ear |
| children shrieking in glee are not as clear as they once | | | | canal. |
| were. If so, you are experiencing high frequency | | | | The SIE open fit hearing aid, however, takes its |
| hearing loss, which is a normal accompaniment of the | | | | speaker out of the plastic shell and moves it to the |
| aging process. | | | | end of the thin tube, where there is a sound tip. SIE |
| But if your hearing has deteriorated to the point where | | | | open fit hearing aids, therefore, do not need as much |
| you cannot hear the doorbell and the telephone ringing, | | | | gain directly at ear level to provide the same amount |
| or the teapot in the kitchen whistling, you should consult | | | | of sound output within the ear canal. This makes them |
| an audiologist to determine whether or not you are a | | | | more suitable for a broader range of hearing |
| candidate for a hearing aid. | | | | impairment than the acoustic tube models, which work |
| If you are ready for a hearing aid, don't despair. | | | | best with high frequency hearing loss. |
| Hearing aids are no longer the bulky, uncomfortable | | | | Open ear hearing aids are available with directional |
| and very obvious devices you might remember having | | | | microphones, which allow those wearers in nosy |
| seen in your youth; the 2005 introduction of open fit | | | | environments to point them directly at a speaker for |
| hearing aids changed that forever. | | | | better sound clarity. Their biggest drawback is that |
| Open fit hearing aids are tiny devices which rest | | | | they are automatic, and do not have any adjustable |
| outside and behind the ear, with no ear canal-occluding | | | | volume control. |
| earmold. Open fit hearing aids instead have extremely | | | | If you are at the age where you think you high |
| thin, nearly invisible "sound tubes" and are so lightweight | | | | frequency hearings not quite what it once was, make |
| that their users often forget they are wearing them. | | | | an appointment with an audiologist to determine the |
| Open fit hearing aids are available in two designs; the | | | | degree and cause of your hearing loss. And if you are |
| speaker-in-ear, or SIE models, and the acoustic tube | | | | in need of hearing aids, open fit hearing aids may be a |
| models. The tube model open fit hearing aids have all | | | | very pleasant surprise! |
| their electronics housed in the small plastic shell which | | | | |