Hearing Aid Accessories- Designed To Improve the Quality of Your Hearing Aid

The battery is the most important part of a hearing aid.  The hearing aid will not work without a battery.  One of the most popular hearing aid accessories is a zinc-air battery that is powered by oxygen. 

There are still some hearing aids that use mercury batteries.  Larger hearing aids have larger batteries that will last for around two weeks.  Smaller hearing aids have smaller batteries which will last for about three to five days. 

In addition to the essential battery component of a hearing aid, there are a few other hearing aid accessories that will improve the quality of the sound that you are receiving.  A directional microphone is designed to permit you to more clearly hear sounds that are directly in front of you. 

This allows you to concentrate on the conversations that are right in front of you and eliminate some of the distracting sounds occurring behind you and at your sides.  You can switch back and forth from the directional microphone to the regular microphone based on your needs.  Unfortunately, the directional microphones will only work with large sized hearing aids. 

Another of the hearing aid accessories that will help to improve sound quality is a telecoil.  A telecoil permits you to toggle between your normal microphone and hearing setting to a “T” setting.  The “T” setting filters out external sounds while you are on the telephone.  A hearing aid compatible telephone is necessary to use a telecoil. 

All wired telephones are required by the FCC to be hearing aid compatible.  However, many cell phones and cordless phones do not meet this requirement.  Many churches and movie theaters use an induction-loop system that is compatible with the “T” setting feature of a hearing aid. 

In addition to telecoils, there are several other hearing aid accessories that can help hearing impaired people to enjoy using a telephone.  Amplified phones are equipped with loud ringers and a blinking light indicator for incoming calls and call waiting calls.  Text phones will type out the text of the call for people who suffer from severe hearing loss. 

A loopset is another popular hearing aid accessory.  A loopset is a wire loop that is worn around the neck and attaches to a cell phone.  The loop transmits the sound from the phone to the hearing aid while filtering out the background noise.  Several styles of hearing aids can be plugged right into computers, televisions, MP3 players and radio to provider the hearing aid user with clean and clear sounds.