Firstly, it's important to remember that you're not alone. Everyday life is growing noisier and as it does, more Canadians are losing their hearing at an earlier age. Fortunately, the options to manage hearing loss are better than ever. 

The first step is to understand the state of your hearing and the type or degree of any hearing loss. With this information, our hearing care professionals will be able to outline the options available to help you hear better. A common solution is hearing aid technology, but we'll discuss options available to you after we review the results of your hearing test.

Many people are afraid to buy hearing aids because they don't think it will be worth it. During your hearing aid consultation at Dynamic Hearing, we'll discuss what you can expect.

A hearing aid is an investment that will not only improve your quality of life but will improve the lives of people that are close to you. Communication is a two-way street and it can often be very frustrating and challenging for loved ones of individuals with a hearing loss in this respect. A hearing aid that is properly programmed and fit by an experienced professional can increase communication and decrease frustration in your life.

Unlike most consumer purchases, you can't walk into a store and pick out a hearing aid. You are buying an expensive piece of electronic equipment that is custom fit to your ear and that the hearing practitioner has to adjust to your specific hearing needs. A competent professional will discuss the various types and styles of hearing aids that will fit your hearing loss, your lifestyle, and your budget. As your needs are many, there is a multitude of products available.

Ongoing professional support is included with the purchase of hearing aids from Dynamic Hearing. That means we will continue to evaluate and reprogram your hearing aids through the life of your devices, so you get the most out of your investment. 

Currently, there are hundreds of different hearing aids with different levels of technology available. Keep in mind two things:

1. All of the technologies are available in all sizes of hearing aids—from the biggest, like the behind-the-ear model, to the smallest, which is the completely-in-the-canal size. 
2. The more basic the technology, the less expensive the hearing aid and vice versa.

The first level of technology is a basic system we call linear and has been around for over 40 years. It amplifies all sounds the same. In other words, regardless of the level of sound that you hear (soft, medium or loud), it gives essentially the same amount of volume. The limitations, then, are an inability to hear soft sounds, such as people who speak softly or from another room, and discomfort when loud sounds occur like traffic, a door slamming, or in a crowded noisy restaurant. But for someone with a very limited or quiet lifestyle, they may be an appropriate choice. Linear aids are now being fit in only rare instances.

Localize sound: To be able to hear where sound is coming from, we need balanced hearing from two ears. For example, when more than one person is in a room. We are able to detect who is speaking because the sound from the speaker will reach the closest ear first. This mechanism is used with any sound, such as an approaching car or even the yell of 'Fore!' on a golf course. With both ears, you can locate sounds not only horizontally but also vertically, 360 degrees in all directions.

Stereo sound: Stereo listening gives depth perception. Anyone who has enjoyed music in stereo, compared to mono, knows the difference. Mono makes sounds seem shallow, flat, and unnatural. Your brain has the ability to hear in stereo, but to do so requires that sound be delivered to both ears. Not only are sounds more natural, but they can be understood more clearly.

Politeness: People with only one hearing aid can be perceived as rude and not respond to someone who is speaking on the side of their unaided or 'bad' ear.

Hear better with less volume: Due to a lack of hearing in one ear, individuals will feel the need to turn up the power on the hearing aid in their fit ear. This will let in more background noise and will therefore be more distracting and stressful. A voice barely heard at 10 feet with one ear can be heard up to 40 feet or more with two ears.

Speech clarity: When a person with hearing loss in both ears wears a hearing aid in only one ear, the unused ear tends to lose its ability to understand speech clearly. Once an individual is fit with a single hearing aid, people no longer need to speak as loudly as before. This means that the unaided ear won't receive speech signals and will lose speech discrimination as a result

Cushion loud sounds: Sudden loud sounds lose much of their jarring effect when divided between two ears.

Auditory intelligence: The two halves of your brain work in harmony to give you an auditory picture. There is a complex pattern of stimulation including sound signal crossover that makes up auditory intelligence. The two halves of the brain are required to work together to produce auditory intelligence, much like the two halves of the brain convert two images from both eyes to produce one picture. Two hearing aids help the signals get to both sides of the brain, thus increasing your auditory intelligence.

When you purchase hearing aids, you are buying more than just the technology. You are also getting ongoing service for the life of the hearing aids, which ensures your devices will remain as beneficial as they can. And if you ever have an issue, we're always happy to help.

• Ongoing Service: When you buy hearing aids, you are not just buying an item—you are paying for service for the life of the hearing aids. The actual "purchase" of hearing aids is secondary to the evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, and counselling. This is not an "item" that you can fit yourself. It takes skill, knowledge, and caring on the part of the hearing care professional to assist you. Further, this service is ongoing. This includes retesting your hearing annually, in house repairs to the hearing aids, clean and checks and reprogramming as frequently as you need it.
• Research and Development: Hearing aid prices have actually risen at less than the annual rate of inflation. For example, the first digital hearing aid manufactured in 1988 weighed about a pound and had to be worn on the body. The battery lasted one day, and the programming hardware was very expensive. Compare that to the first commercially available digital hearing aids, which came out in 1996. They are available in the smallest completely-in–the canal style, and the battery lasts up to 2 weeks. Dynamic Hearing supports manufacturers who have shown leadership in research and development, and who have policies that are consistent with our mission statement of providing the highest quality hearing healthcare.
• Advanced Technology with a Lower Demand: Whereas computers and mobile phones are household items in the majority of our homes, hearing aids are not. Research has demonstrated that only 22% of those people who need hearing aids actually seek help for their hearing loss. Thus, the demand is not nearly as high.
• Quality Technology: A basic hearing aid and a television set cost about the same. Hearing aids, however, are worn 17 hours a day on average. A TV set is in use about 5.5 hours a day, according to census figures. No one would expect a TV set to withstand the environment in which a hearing aid is used (e.g., heat, perspiration, rough handling). Hearing aids are indeed high-quality devices, in light of their cost.
• Investment into Your Health: The value of better hearing is hard to appraise. Most of the benefits are intangible. These include being able to work productively, to maintain relationships, to socialize comfortably, and to communicate easily with the outside world. One way to measure cost effectiveness is with a cost-benefit ratio. That is, the cost compared to the benefits one receives. Consider the economics of a set of hearing aids which cost $2000 that enables a person to hold a job with a salary of $40,000. The cost-benefit ratio would be $40,000/2,000 or 20:1 in the first year alone. If one assumes five years of use, the hearing aids will carry a benefit-cost ratio of 100:1, or $100 returned for every $1 spent.

Hearing aids are not something that should be purchased online. Only a certified audiologist or hearing instrument specialist can provide you with appropriate evaluations and professional care and service based on your specific type of hearing loss and your lifestyle and health concerns. When you purchase a hearing aid from a hearing clinic, you are provided with detailed instructions and demonstration of how to use the hearing aid and properly care for it, and equally important: follow-up care, support and counselling. Typically the purchase of new aids will include repair services, and rehabilitation services.