Self Programmable Hearing Aid vs Professional Fitting: Which One is Right for You?

The FDA has approved a hearing aid that consumers are able to program themselves. The Bose Hearing Aid, devised for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, is the first self-fitting hearing aid to get the green light from the agency. It can be adjusted by users through an app on their smartphones and on the wireless device itself without the help of an audiologist.

self programmable hearing aid

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The new Class II self-fitting classification within hearing aids should not be confused with the still-to-come Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aid classification that FDA is developing (ie, in terms of FDA regulations, OTC hearing aids do not yet exist). The OTC Hearing Aid Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in August 2017 as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (FDARA). It is designed to provide better affordability and accessibility for adults with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and give them access to OTC hearing aids without being seen by a hearing care professional. It remains to be seen how this self-fitting category will fit in with the pending OTC category of hearing aids.

1. Will I be able to answer phone calls on me cell phone with this hearing aid?2. My hearing is less in my left ear will the adjustment with the app help me with the levels?3. Will it help me hear the pronunciation of the words better?

To the best of my knowledge: 1) No, the product currently does not offer wireless streaming which was a surprise to the hearing industry. My guess is a later product version will; 2 & 3) The app, which is based on the Ear Machine app, should provide you with a reasonable starting point for your hearing loss and there is some adjustability to it. To learn probably more than you want to about the app, you can read this article by Andrew Sabin of Bose and colleagues. Of course, I do recommend that you see a hearing care professional for the best personalized hearing care solution and/or rule out any other medical/auditory issues you might have.

Twenty years of wearing hearing aids, the hearing aide market is like the used car market. 80 percent of hearing are programed to fit in drawer.Real ear measurement and best practices ought to be the law.

Since 2004, NewSound has been raising the benchmarks for sound amplifiers and hearing aids, ensuring the hearing impaired have easy access to affordable, practical solutions. Across the world, NewSound is trusted for quality-first hearing aids with features like noise reduction, dual microphones, and feedback cancellation. Easily meeting and often surpassing the global standards in this segment, NewSound continues to be one of the top makers of app-controlled and rechargeable hearing aids. Compliance with ISO 13485 certificated systems underlines how NewSound has groomed and developed its R&D and quality control. With an expanding inventory of products certified by the CE and FDA, NewSound continues to make bigger footprints worldwide!

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EarBud connector vinyl connecting tubeHearing Aid Sound Tube With Hearing Aid Tip Connector NOTE: Will NOT fit open fit, wired, or in ear hearing aids like: Aria 206, TACTear, Rocker, Select, Sonic...

To address the significant shortage of clinical skills in developing countries, the viability of teleaudiology is being explored. Swanepoel et al. (2010) provides an excellent introduction to teleaudiology and the potential scope of its applications. Briefly, teleaudiology refers to the practice of audiology in which the clinician is situated remotely from the client and delivers services via information and communication technology, such as the telephone or internet. Teleaudiology has been successfully trialed for diagnostic testing (e.g., Choi et al., 2007; Krumm, Huffman, Dick, & Klich, 2008), hearing aid adjustment (e.g., Ferrari, 2006; Wesendahl, 2003), and counseling (e.g., Laplante-Levesque, Pichora-Fuller, & Gagne, 2006; Pearce, Ching, & Dillon, 2009). There is no doubt that technological advancement and the penetration of communication technologies into developing countries make teleaudiology a very viable strategy. Swanepoel et al. (2010), however, have pointed out that such potential complications as licensure, jurisdictional responsibility, certification, reimbursement, and quality control need to be addressed, as clinicians and clients could potentially be situated in different states or even in different countries. Further, the establishment of a teleaudiology network still requires resources, including specialized equipment and dedicated local staff to assist the client, obtain information, and/or to guide the process. The introduction of teleaudiology could also place undue burden on clinicians in developed countries, where staff shortages also exist, if they are tapped to provide remote services to clients in developing countries.

Even among individuals with hearing impairment in developed nations who have reliable access to hearing health care services, the majority do not acquire hearing aids. Only about one in five individuals with hearing impairment in the developed world have obtained hearing aids, a number that has not substantially changed in 30 years (Dillon, in press; Kochkin, 2005). The reasons for the low penetration rate are varied and include such factors as cost; the belief that existing devices do not perform well in noise; and the fact that the demand for audiological services, even in developed countries, can be greater than the ability of the profession to provide them (Swanepoel et al., 2010).

Whereas technological constraints may have prevented Köpke et al. and others of that era from realizing the kind of self-fitting hearing aid described in Figure 1, the prospect of producing a device that incorporates fully automated procedures for audiometric testing and hearing aid fitting is now very real. For example, many hearing aids are now equipped with tone generators (e.g. Intricon (2011), Widex, Siemens, and many others). These tone generators are primarily used to indicate changes to the volume level and program and as a low-battery indicator, although Widex (2011) makes use of this feature to provide harmonic tones that are designed to assist the user with relaxation and tinnitus relief (Kuk, Peeters, & Lau, 2010). The greater power and sophistication of digital hearing aid chipsets further make it feasible for the device to host a complex transfer function or prescriptive formula, and/or a training algorithm.

Unlike a self-fitting hearing aid, which is designed to be entirely self-contained, all currently available nontraditional hearing aids and self-tests of hearing require either additional equipment and/or access to a hearing health care professional

The fifth and final category shown in Figure 2 encompasses self-tests of hearing. Currently, all self-tests of hearing are computer-, telephone-, and/or questionnaire-based. None of these test methods provides the person being tested with reliable, frequency-specific thresholds to which a validated prescriptive algorithm can be applied to yield hearing aid settings. There are currently no self-tests of hearing available in a hearing aid or other wearable device that does not require the attachment of an additional programming unit (e.g., Ludvigsen & Topholm, 1997), or a computer.

The threat that the self-fitting hearing aid could pose to the livelihood of hearing health care professionals depends, in developed countries, on the extent to which the device is taken up by existing hearing aid users versus individuals who are currently unaided. If the former situation occurs, then the impact on the profession will depend on the overall supply and demand for audiological services. It is important to recognize, however, that many people will continue to need considerable assistance from clinicians for diagnosis, motivational counseling, and/or instructional counseling in device usage and listening tactics. Although the candidacy criteria for a self-fitting hearing aid are unknown at present, infants, young children, and individuals with cognitive and/or fine motor difficulties are examples of groups who are unlikely to be suitable candidates for a self-fitting device. Such populations will continue to require direct clinical interaction with a hearing health care professional.

We believe that the primary market for the self-fitting hearing aid should be developing countries that lack an audiological infrastructure. Therefore, when developing instructions for use of the device, the high rate of illiteracy in such areas should be considered and the efficacy of the instructions verified in the target population. More information about the disadvantages currently faced by hearing-impaired people living in developing countries and how innovative technology could make a difference in these areas are discussed in an accompanying article by McPherson (in press). In this article, McPherson highlights the lack of research into how to match amplification technology with the need in developing countries for affordable and appropriate devices. 2ff7e9595c