Hearing aids are obviously designed to amplify the sounds of voices, nature and other environmental sounds. These are also designed to address the listening needs of a wide range of situations, from hearing your favorite music across the room to tuning out your next-door neighbors’ screaming match.
But do you know what makes the sound amplification and, thus, volume in your hearing aids increase and decrease? Let’s take a look at their two main types of volume controls.
Automatic Volume Control
Many hearing aids have built-in automatic volume control that makes it easier to use them, especially for beginners and for people with hand dexterity issues. Automatic volume control is just as it says – it means the hearing aids automatically adjust their volume according to the sound environment.
The level of sound amplification will obviously be based on your hearing loss. You and your audiologist will work toward getting the right amplification during the fitting session.
Furthermore, the automatic volume control on your hearing aids will amplify sounds based on their original volume. Thus, loud sounds will be amplified less than softer sounds.
Manual Volume Control
Many hearing aids with automatic volume control also have manual volume control. The latter is appreciated by people who want to manually adjust the volume based on their personal preferences and according to the demands of the situation.
Manual volume control usually comes in the form of small levers. These also have a tactile feeling to them, so if you adjust your hearing aids’ volume, you will get both the sound of a click and the feeling of the switch locking into position.
The manual volume control levers are also usually separate from the push button for the programs. For example, the volume’s toggle key is at the top of the hearing aid while the push buttons for the programs are at the bottom. You won’t then have to accidentally turn off your hearing aid when you only wanted to change its volume level.
Your audiologist will explain the proper use of the controls on your hearing aids. If your hearing aids have a lever for manual volume control, it’s easy to use.
In many hearing aids, adjusting the volume in the right ear will change the volume to the same level in the left ear and vice versa. Others have separate volume controls for each ear.
Hearing aids and their volumes require some getting used to, especially if you’ve experienced hearing loss for quite some time. Just use them every day and you will eventually become accustomed to them, even think of them as part of your body.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
http://www.hkhearingspeech.com