Hearing aids, like many other devices, are getting smarter, more inconspicuous and cooler every day, and just in time. The U.S. census reports that the average American is older as the population as a whole ages, and unfortunately, loss of hearing, particularly in older people, is extremely common. About 37.5 million adults in America and rising say they have some degree of hearing loss.
Luckily more choices for treating hearing loss are available due to exciting advancements in recent hearing technology. Some of the innovations now available are presented here.
Your General Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are as good if not better than a fitness tracker at tracking many vital signs. Not only can it track the time between heartbeats to help find potential cardiovascular issues, but it also tracks calories burned, heart rate, step count, and the total number of steps taken. They are even developing technology that can measure blood pressure, oxygenation of the blood and other relevant vital signs. Hearing aids also often have other pluses, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will help you hear generally so that your social life will get better as well. Actually, social involvement has been linked to your overall health as well, so really it’s another health statistic we should be looking at. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your music, who needs a smartwatch or fitness device?
Streaming Made Easier And More Intelligent
Staying connected to your virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa is getting to be more important as people get more attached to these features. Even if you resist the allure of talking directly to these assistants, Bluetooth hearing aids provide key advantages including streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or even streaming directly from your smart TV. Just think of the advantages: You could hear the analysts in the next Super Bowl clearly over your family’s fun (or at least steer clear of getting yelled at for turning the volume too high). You will be able to manage your loss of hearing more discreetly and also enjoy your music, phone calls, and shows more by hearing them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what type of book you’d like to read? Or how Amazon somehow know which items to recommend? This is the power of artificial intelligence and big data. The latest hearing aids can also make adjustments automatically according to your reactions in the past. As an example, if you lowered the volume the last time you went to the train station, your hearing aid will recall that and turn itself down the next time you visit the train station. They are also starting to network your hearing aids with other devices belonging to people near you in order to inform you of a possible loud noise danger nearby. Over time the hearing aids add up all this information to make suggestions and automatic corrections, so you can adjust quickly to variations in the hearing environment.
No More Tiny Batteries to Change.
Why would you want to constantly struggle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are currently available. Even though you can do a lot to help increase the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, let’s face it…it’s still costly and frustrating. Even better, they are working on technology to recharge hearing aids without even needing to take them out of your ears.