What are the Best Styles of Hearing Devices?

Your audiologist told you it's time to get a hearing aid to help with your hearing loss. However, before you can even think about a hearing aid brand, you need to decide on the style of hearing aid. Looking after your health is essential, including taking care of your hearing loss by getting a hearing aid. Your lifestyle preference, degree of hearing loss, and cosmetic concern all play a critical role in finding the right type and style of hearing aid. There are a few hearing aid styles, and these are the most common options.

In the ear (ITE)

ITE hearing aids are custom made and fill the outer and bowl-shaped part of the ear. You can choose a color that closely resembles your skin tone to camouflage it, which comes in handy as they are more visible than other hearing aids. In addition, the battery on ITE hearing aids is bigger, which means that their batteries will last longer.  

Behind the ear (BTE)

The BTE hearing aid style is just as its name says; it fits behind the ear but has a tube that connects the earmold to the hearing aid. The microphone, receiver, and all parts are behind the ear on the BTE device. You will need to change the earmold after a while when it becomes hard. You also need to change the tubing, but on some BTE hearing aids, you can ask to put in a slim tubing which does not need to be changed as much. The size has both an advantage and disadvantage. The advantage is that it has a lot of power, whereas the disadvantage is visibility. 

In the canal (ITC)

The ITC hearing aid fits in the lower portion of the outer ear bowl. Because of their position, they are easy to use and comfortable. In addition, ITC devices have a bigger battery than other styles, making their battery life also slightly longer. ITC devices also come with a few additional features, such as a volume wheel and microphone. 

Completely in canal (CIC)

The CIC hearing aid is the most popular choice for custom hearing aids. This is because of their near invisibility as they sit in the ear canal. Only a little bit of the faceplate is visible at the entrance of the ear canal. In addition, due to its small size, it doesn't have special features like the BTE, ITC, or ITE.

Invisible in canal (IIC)

IIC or Invisible-in-canal hearing aid is what you want if you want to have your hearing loss status and hearing aid stay incognito. It is the smallest custom hearing aid. One disadvantage of the IIC sitting deep in the canal is that the hearing aid tends to fill up on earwax. You remove the IIC hearing aid by tugging on its small pull-out string. Like the CIC, the IIC is also small in size, and therefore it doesn't have special features like the BTE, ITC or ITE.