Improving Your Health and Wellbeing

Why should you consider a bluetooth hearing aid?

by Ernest Smith

Hearing aid technology is advancing all the time, and one recent development is the introduction of bluetooth. This allows your hearing aids to use high-frequency radio waves to connect with other nearby devices. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using such a hearing aid?

The pros

Bluetooth hearing aids allow you to stream audio from your smartphone, music player or TV, either directly or via a device called a streamer that you would typically wear around your neck. This means you do not need to remove your hearing aid to wear earbuds. You also do not need to worry about finding the right position for your mobile phone, as you will hear the signal directly in your hearing aid.

You will also be able to personalise your listening experience. As the audio will be streamed to both your hearing aids, you can adjust the sound in each ear and amplify it according to your personal settings. You can stream the sound to one ear only so that you will be able to hear conversations and any other sounds in the room, and can also adjust the volume to your own needs independently of the device itself so that anyone else watching TV will not need to hear it at your preferred volume.

You can also tune your hearing aids to multiple devices. This means you can switch easily between your TV, mobile phone or music system — so you could pause a film or piece of music in order to take a phone call.

The cons

Although bluetooth hearing aids are relatively easy to use, if you are particularly technophobic, you may feel that having more devices to worry about is a burden rather than a benefit. If you prefer to keep things simple, you may want to carry on with an ordinary hearing aid - particularly if you do not spend a lot of time watching TV or using your mobile.

Also, a bluetooth hearing aid can be a bit more expensive than an ordinary one. Many people feel it is well worth paying the extra in order to benefit from its advantages, but as always, you will have to decide for yourself if the benefits of convenience and better sound are worth the extra cost.

For most people, bluetooth hearing aid technology is an excellent way of managing their audio devices and making the most of their hearing.

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