Hearing aids, like lots of other devices, are getting smarter, more inconspicuous and cooler all the time, and just in time. The U.S. census documents that the average American is older as the whole population gets older, and unfortunately, hearing loss, particularly in older people, is very common. About 37.5 million American adults and rising say they have some level of hearing loss.
Luckily more possibilities for treating loss of hearing are available because of amazing breakthroughs in recent hearing technology. A few of the innovations now available are presented here.
Your Overall Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are as good if not better than a fitness tracker at tracking several vital signs. Not only can it keep track of step count, how many calories were burned, the total number of steps you took and heart rate, it also monitors the time in between heartbeats to help detect any cardiovascular concerns. They’re also developing technology that can assess other significant vital signs like blood pressure and oxygenation of the blood. Hearing aids also often have other advantages, like the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will help you hear generally so that your social life will get better also. Actually, social engagement has been linked to your general health also, so actually it’s another health statistic we should be looking at. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your music, you won’t even need a smartwatch or fitness device?
Streaming Made Simpler And More Intelligent
As we get addicted to virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, staying connected and able to communicate with them is becoming more important. Even if talking to these assistants is not your thing, Bluetooth hearing aids offer key features such as streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or maybe even streaming directly from your smart TV. Consider the benefits of this: You could hear the play-by-play in the big game clearly over your family’s fun (or at least steer clear of getting yelled at for having the volume too loud). You will be capable of managing your hearing loss more inconspicuously and also appreciate your music, phone calls, and shows more by having them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Have you noticed that you get ads from Goodreads and they seem to know what kind of books you enjoy reading? Or how Amazon somehow know which items to suggest? That’s because big data and artificial intelligence are very powerful. Modern hearing aids can also make adjustments automatically based on your responses in the past. For instance, if you turned down the volume the last time you visited the train station, your hearing aid will remember that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are extending this technology to include crowdsourcing as well, allowing information from other people to notify your hearing aids that you’re entering a loud zone. Over time the hearing aids add up all this information to make suggestions and automatic corrections, so you can adjust quickly to changes in the hearing environment.
No More Little Batteries to Replace.
Who wants to constantly wrestle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are now on the market. Even though you can do a lot to help increase the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, truth be told…it’s still frustrating and expensive. Even better, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.