Sleek and stylish. Spontaneous and active.
The adjectives sound like an ideal romantic partner.
But the description doesn't apply to someone who will hang breathlessly on your every word; rather, it's something that can help you hear virtually every word.
Hearing aid brochures and ads are touting the virtues of the latest technology to counter hearing loss, whether the cause be listening to eardrum-rattling music, a side effect of myriad prescriptions or simply age, said Ray Jones, hearing aid specialist and owner of Jones Hearing Centers, which has about 40 offices in Texas and Louisiana.
Barely-there hearing aids these days can be digital, programmed and remote-controlled, he said.
The technology has come a long way from the brass horns that passed for hearing aids in the late 19th century.
With the digital process, sound enters the microphone, is converted into computer code, cleaned up and processed before being fed into the ear -- "just like taking the scratches out of a vinyl record and making it sound like a CD or MP3 player," said audiologist David Carothers, who runs a Jones Hearing Center in Lake Worth.
Petite, high-tech hearing aids can block out the roar of the happy-hour crowd to home in on one-on-one conversation, rather than indiscriminately amplifying everything.
"With dual microphones, one mike listens for speech and lifts it or clarifies it; the other mike listens for the junk, the background noise, and uses it to muffle it," Carothers said. And researchers are on the verge of incorporating a minuscule cellphone receiver with a hearing aid, Jones said. "The phone would ring, you say 'Hello,' and your voice activates the phone," he said. Visual Appeal Besides the difference in what you hear, there's a difference in what you see. Some models -- especially for people with mild or moderate hearing loss -- are barely visible, which suits people who prefer the understated. But other aids are downright cute. Some come in shades such as Cabernet Red, Racing Green, Samoa Blue, Pure Passion -- even wildlife patterns like cheetah or giraffe. "We dress 'em, colorize them and make them appeal to the boomers, of which I am one," said Carothers, 48. "That's why my wife bought 'Champagne' for me." Baby boomers aren't the only ones eyeing the latest shades. College freshman Jessica Pysh, 20, of Fort Worth, who has worn hearing aids since she was 7, said she has been admiring the new models. "They're really neat, with all the different colors," she said. "I was talking to one of my friends and said, 'Wow. This is cool.'"
Besides the cosmetic differences, the aids are more comfortable. "You don't feel any fullness in the ear," Jones said. Increasing Need It's all happening at the right time, audiologists say. These days, 1 in 6 Americans has a hearing loss equal to that of placing a finger in one or both ears, according to a recent Johns Hopkins University study. That's double previous estimates, with the problem growing fastest among younger adults, many of whom listen to their iPods and MP3 players with small earbuds worn within the ear and the volume cranked up way too loud. "It's a combination of the baby boomer generation and the iPod generation," said audiologist Ronna Fisher, founder of Hearing Health Center Inc. in Chicago. For some it's too late, because loud noises have permanently destroyed sensory cells vital to hearing. Moreover, by age 55, hearing generally decreases. About 30 percent of people age 70 and older have some degree of hearing loss -- although not necessarily enough to require hearing aids, Jones said. About 70 percent of hearing aid wearers need two; the rest just need one, he said. Some people are in denial and will simply resort to "What'd you say?" or "Huh?" But some audiologists predict that there will be a stampede of baby boomers to hearing clinics.
"Maybe; maybe not," Jones said. In any case, he said he hopes that the rapid technological changes for hearing aids help remove the awkwardness of being hearing-impaired. "Hearing is a social sense," he said. "You go to dinner with a group of people and your conversation would not be affected by blindness, or someone without the sense of taste -- unless they complain that they can't taste anything. It's the same way with the sense of smell. But a problem with hearing affects the whole table because of 'What did you say?' and other having to repeat." Something for Everyone Among those tickled with the changes in hearing aids is Ed Doyle, 68, of Fort Worth, a retired engineer and aircraft program manager for Lockheed Martin. "I was having general difficulty of hearing speech, especially at a dinner, when everything would kind of run together -- and I had trouble hearing my grandchildren," he said. He chose a tiny flesh-toned aid that rests behind the ear and is barely noticeable. It has a thin tube that follows his ear's contour and ends with a small bud inside the ear. "I've got a remote control, so I can make adjustments to different situations," he said. The remote is about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide and a half-inch thick, he said.
"They do make these in a combination with a watch, but I just carry mine in my pocket," he said. "It's sort of like an autopilot that senses situations and makes automatic adjustments to give you best reception. You can set for calm and night and for speech in a noisy setting, and there's a telephone setting that turns the volume way up." He takes his hearing aids off only for showering, sleeping and working out, he said. "I've never had a problem with them coming loose," he said. "And unless you're looking in my ears more than you ought to, you can't find the bud." Most buyers, like Doyle, choose a color that matches their skin or hair, Jones said. "It's usually the younger kids who like the colored ones," Jones said. "We don't fit a lot of the zebra-colored ones." But even some in their golden years flout convention. One of Carothers' customers -- a Dallas Cowboys fan -- "ordered them in translucent blue, with a star painted on the side," he said. "She was 80 and still having fun." Aid OptionsHere is a look at types of hearing aids, with cost depending on sophistication and whether they are custom-made. OTE (on the ear): This is the newest hearing aid, debuting about two years ago. Also called thin-tube BTE (behind the ear). These have shells that are generally smaller than traditional behind-the-ear heading aids, but the speaker tubes extending into the ears are thinner and less noticeable. Cost: $700 to $2,350 per ear.
ITC (in the canal): These are a variation on in-the-ear models but are smaller and extend farther into the ear. They are partially visible. Cost: $650 to $2,350 per ear. CIC (completely in the canal): These customized aids fit all the way into the ear canal and are rarely visible. Impressions are taken of the ear canal to fashion the aids. They were developed in the late 1980s. Cost: $500 to $2,900 per ear. IOT (invisible open technology): These are a variation on CIC aids and are not custom-fitted. Nicknamed "fit-and-go," it is a one-size-fits-all model that can be programmed in one visit to a hearing aid center. Cost: $1,500 to $1,900 per ear. ITE (in the ear): These can be ordered with or without dual microphones, which provide information to the computer to analyze and reduce background noise. It comes in full shell size and the smaller, less-visible "half shell" size. Cost: $500 to $2,400 per ear. BTE (behind the ear): Developed in the late 1940s, these durable aids house the receiver, microphone and amplifier in a visible shell that sits behind the ear. A clear plastic tube connects the aid to a custom ear mold with a speaker in the ear. Cost: $500 to $2,900 per ear.
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