For those with hearing difficulties, hearing aids offer the chance at a restored quality of life. And they’ve been around for longer than most people think. In fact, the first commercially-produced hearing aid and hearing aid battery hit the market back in 1913.
But the original hearing aid had some significant drawbacks — most notably its large size and relative lack of portability. In the years since then, hearing aids have gotten considerably smaller, and now the hearing aid comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles.
While the proliferation of the hearing aid and hearing aid batteries offers endless benefits, it also creates more complexity and confusion. In other words, people who need hearing aids face a difficult choice when selecting the hearing aids that suit their needs best.
To help, the hearing aid specialists at North Shore Hearing P.C. have created a helpful guide to hearing aid sizes. Let’s take a closer look at different hearing aid sizes, hearing aid batteries, and hearing aid styles to simplify your decision.
The Two Major Hearing Aid Types
These days, hearing aids come in multiple styles, but there are two main types of hearing aid designs. They are in-the-ear hearing aids and behind-the-ear hearing aids. Here’s a bit about each and the pros and cons of each major category of hearing aid.
In-the-Ear Hearing Aids
As their name suggests, in-the-ear (ITE)hearing aids are small electronic amplification devices that fit inside the ear canal of the wearer. Most in-the-ear hearing aid styles do require a visit to an audiologist.
In doing so, your hearing aid professional can make a careful impression of your inner ear to ensure a customized fit. The placement of the hearing aid within your ear makes them excellent for picking up high-frequency sounds.
And this type of hearing aid doesn’t impede the usage of telephones, headphones, and other devices that press against the ear. But, ITE hearing aids tend to require cleaning more often, because they’re prone to issues with wax buildup due to their placement within the ear.
And, the small size of the ITE hearing aid limits the hearing aid battery life, which powers the device. That makes the ITE hearing aid battery somewhat of an Achilles heel for wearers.
Plus, people with mobility issues can often struggle to change the hearing aid battery in a small ITE hearing aid model. So, they’re not always a good choice for every wearer.
Fortunately, this is one of the prime benefits of partnering with an experienced hearing and hearing aid specialist. Your audiologist will get to know you, your needs, and preferences to guide you to most applicable hearing aid technology.
Behind-the-Ear Hearing Aids
Unlike ITE models, behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids are a bit larger and tend to the more robust hearing aid batteries. In addition to a larger hearing aid battery size, ITEs are bigger because the main components sit behind the wearer’s ear.
Sound is carried to the ear canal via narrow tubing connected to an earmold or other ear canal insert. And because their electronics remain outside the wearer’s ear, they don’t usually require as much maintenance as ITE models.
And because they’re not as small and delicate as ITE hearing aids, BTE models are easier for wearers to operate. It’s easier to change their hearing aid batteries, and those batteries are usually larger and feature better battery life.
Of course, the major drawback of BTE hearing aids is that they’re all but impossible to hide. Unlike ITE models, BTE hearing aids are easily visible to anyone close enough to the wearer to see.
The Different Hearing Aid Styles
Within the two major types of hearing aids for hearing loss — ITE and BTE — there are a variety of styles for wearers to choose from. Here are the important details about the major types of hearing aid options.
ITE Hearing Aid Styles
There are three main styles of ITE hearing aids that are in use today. They are:
- Invisible in the canal (IIC)or Completely in the canal (CIC)
- In-the-canal (ITC)
- Low-profile
Invisible-in-the-Canal Hearing Aids
Invisible in the canal (IIC) and completely in the canal (CIC) style hearing aids are designed to be as close to invisible as possible when worn. They’re tiny and sit deep within the ear canal, concealing them from view.
But because they’re so small, there are limits to how much hearing assistance they provide. That’s why they’re best used by people with mild or moderate hearing loss, and don’t make a good fit for anyone with severe hearing loss.
ITC hearing aids are larger hearing aids than their IIC and CIC counterparts — and that makes for a more versatile hearing aid. They often feature directional microphones and superior battery life.
Some manufacturers even find room for manual volume controls on these smaller hearing aids to make them easier to use for the wearer. As one would assume, these rechargeable hearing aids have very small hearing aid batteries.
Low-Profile Hearing Aids
Low-profile hearing aids are the largest variety of ITE hearing aid models available. And much like their smaller ITC counterparts, they use their size to great advantage.
Many low-profile hearing aid models with smaller hearing aid batteries feature wireless connectivity so the wearer may operate them via a convenient mobile app. They also tend to provide higher volume amplification, making them more appropriate for some people suffering from. severe hearing loss.
BTE Hearing Aid Styles
BTE hearing aids are larger hearing aids than comparable ITE hearing aid models. They’re robust and well-suited for people with severe hearing loss or for those who want greater ease of use and superior hearing aid batteries. And there are two major types of BTE hearing aids on the market today. They are:
- Receiver-in-the-ear (RITE)
- Behind the ear with earmold
Receiver-in-the-Ear Hearing Aids
RITE hearing aids are much larger hearing aids and tend to have larger hearing aid batteries than any ITE models. However, the larger size and larger hearing aid batteries offer several advantages, especially for those with significant hearing loss.
For instance, they’re one of the only types of hearing aid that typically offers rechargeable batteries as an option. Because of the built-in rechargeable batteries, they do not require regular removal, compared to hearing aids with traditional disposable batteries.
And the rechargeable battery is important because hearing aid batteries are the main type of consumable that makes a hearing aid work. And they can be quite an expense for any long-term hearing aid wearer.
Offering rechargeable batteries alleviates some of those costs by allowing wearers to keep one set of rechargeable hearing aid batteries in reserve and another set of rechargeable batteries in use — and that’s it.
With proper management of rechargeable hearing aids, you will not need to buy conventional hearing aid batteries for the life of the hearing aid pair. That’s a feature that sets them apart from disposable hearing aid batteries.
BTE with Earmold
The other major style of BTE hearing aid is the behind the ear with earmold style. They’re a good fit for those with profound hearing loss because they offer the maximum possible level of amplification.
They’re also excellent for children and teenagers because it’s only necessary to replace the earmold as they grow, extending the life of each hearing aid. Unlike RITE models, behind the ear with earmold models don’t typically come with rechargeable hearing aid batteries, or offer any other rechargeable battery support.
But, they’re durable and share many of the other advanced features available in RITE hearing aid models — often including:
- WiFi connectivity,
- telecoils, and
- Even AI audio processing, in some cases.
Contact North Shore Hearing P.C.
At North Shore Hearing P.C., we offer all types of hearing aid devices and hearing aid battery sizes, including lithium-ion batteries, zinc-air batteries, and more. Most importantly, we will work closely with you to help you choose the best hearing aid and aid batteries for you and your unique lifestyle.
Contact North Shore Hearing P.C. today for the custom hearing loss solutions.
