From a crowded restaurant to a busy sidewalk, you can encounter overwhelming amounts of noise almost anywhere. For the hearing aid users, the problem of background noise can be immense. It’s a big challenge to differentiate one sound from the background noise. Digital noise reduction technology embedded inside hearing aids is one approach to combating this problem. It allows the wearer to block unwanted noise and focus on specific sounds.
Hearing aids that utilize digital noise reduction technology are able to pick up on the unique differences between speech and noise. If a person is talking to you in a quiet room, the device knows that the signals it is picking up are speech signals. However, when conversing in a noisy environment, your digital noise reduction equipped hearing aid can tell that there is unwanted sound present. The hearing aid makes the necessary adjustments on its own using built-in software and reduces the volume associated with the noisy channels.
Don’t expect that all background noise will be eliminated. No hearing aid can do that. However, the digital noise reduction feature does help improve communications quite a lot in noisy areas. The general consensus among hearing aid wearers with this technology is that speech sounds better and background noise is less overpowering.
Digital noise reduction technology works best when the background noise it is combating is fairly constant. This means that steady sounds such as an air conditioner or engine running are more effectively blocked than dynamic music or a nearby conversation.
To give your digital noise reduction capable hearing aid the best chance at succeeding, use common sense measures in conjunction with technology. For example, if you find yourself in a noisy part of a restaurant, ask to be seated somewhere that isn’t quite as hectic.
While no hearing aid technology can give you perfect hearing, digital noise reduction can take much of the annoyance out of dealing with noisy situations.