A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations. However, only about one out of five people who would benefit from a hearing aid actually uses one.

A hearing aid has three basic parts: a microphone, amplifier, and speaker. The hearing aid receives sound through a microphone, which converts the sound waves to electrical signals and sends them to an amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of the signals and then sends them to the ear through a speaker.  

Hearing aids are primarily useful in improving the hearing and speech comprehension of people who have hearing loss that results from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, called hair cells. This type of hearing loss is called sensorineural hearing loss. The damage can occur as a result of disease, aging, or injury from noise or certain medicines.

A hearing aid magnifies sound vibrations entering the ear. Surviving hair cells detect the larger vibrations and convert them into neural signals that are passed along to the brain. The greater the damage to a person ' s hair cells, the more severe the hearing loss, and the greater the hearing aid amplification needed to make up the difference. However, there are practical limits to the amount of amplification a hearing aid can provide. In addition, if the inner ear is too damaged, even large vibrations will not be converted into neural signals. In this situation, a hearing aid would be ineffective.

Hearing aids are electronic devices that pick up and amplify sound. By amplifying sound, sounds that the wearer normally would not hear are increased in volume and therefore better communicated.

There are many different degrees of hearing loss and technology has paved the way for many innovative products designed to improve a broad range of hearing.

Hearing Aid Components:

• One or many microphones. The microphone gathers sound and converts it to electrical impulses. More than one microphone collects sound from different areas.
• An amplifier is used to increase the strength of the impulses.
• The receiver transforms the electrical impulses back into sound waves and redirects them into the ear of the wearer.
• A battery is needed to supply the energy source.

Other Components:

A computer chip is found in programmable hearing aids.

There are switches on the aid that turn the device on or off, allow for phone usage or provide the ability to control volume.

Programs offer various sounds for a variety of listening environments. As an example, one program may be for conversations, another for the telephone and a third for noisy situations. An aid can come with numerous programs and the wearer may manually change back and forth between different programs, while some aids switch automatically.

Maintenance Tips
Just follow these simple guidelines to protect your Miracle-Ear hearing aid system from everyday wear and tear:

• Thoroughly clean your hearing aid daily with a dry cloth.
• Never immerse your hearing aid in water. Do not wear it while taking a bath or shower or while swimming. Do not expose it to excessive moisture of any kind.
• Never apply hair spray while wearing hearing aids.
• Do not expose your hearing aid to excessive heat, such as a stove or open fire.
• Unless you ' re wearing the hearing aid at the time, do not expose it to extreme cold (0 degrees or less F)
• Avoid dropping your hearing aid on hard surfaces.
• When not in use, remove the battery and store your hearing aid in the case provided by your Miracle-Ear representative.
• Put away hearing aids and batteries, out of reach of pets and children.

How to Clean Your Hearing Aid

• Wipe your hearing aid or earmold and tubing every day with a clean, soft cloth.
• Clean the receiver and vent openings with an appropriate wax removal tool, available at your local Miracle-Ear Hearing Aid Center. Make sure you received proper instruction from the Miracle-Ear representative to prevent damage to your receiver.
• We recommend you clean your hearing aid daily with a disinfectant wipe or tissue sprayed with disinfectant, which you can find at your local Miracle-Ear Hearing Aid Center.