Like lots of other devices, hearing aids are getting more intuitive every day. They’re also more inconspicuous and more stylish than they ever have been. The average American is older, reports The Us Census Department, as the whole population gets older, and loss of hearing is, unfortunately, very common, particularly in older adults. Approximately 37.5 million American adults say they have some amount of hearing loss, and these numbers are going up.
The good news is hearing technology has had some thrilling advancements recently that will offer more solutions for dealing with loss of hearing. Here are just a few of the enhancements coming our way.
Your Overall Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Did you know that hearing aids can track several key vital signs as well or better than a fitness tracker? Not only can it track step count, how many calories were burned, the total number of steps you took and heart rate, it also checks the time between heartbeats to help find any cardiovascular concerns. They are even working on technology that can measure blood pressure, oxygenation of the blood and other relevant vital signs. There are other possible benefits that come with hearing aids, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will enhance your social life by helping your overall hearing. Actually, social involvement is another metric we should look at because it has been connected to your general health. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your songs, who needs a smartwatch or fitness device?
Easier And More intelligent Streaming
As we get addicted to virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, staying connected and able to communicate with them is becoming more important. Even if talking to these assistants is not your thing, hearing aids with Bluetooth allow you to stream sound from any Bluetooth device such as your phone or smart TV. Just think of the benefits: You could hear the play-by-play in the next Super Bowl clearly over your family’s cheers (or at least steer clear of getting yelled at for having the volume too loud). You will be capable of managing your hearing loss more inconspicuously and also enjoy your shows, phone calls, and music more by hearing them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Have you noticed that you get ads from Goodreads and they seem to already know what type of books you like to read? Or how all your favorite kinds of items get advertised to you by Amazon? That’s because big data and artificial intelligence are very powerful. Modern hearing aids can also make adjustments automatically according to your responses in the past. For instance, if you lowered the volume the last time you went to the train station, your hearing aid will remember that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are also starting to network your hearing aids with other devices that belong to people near you in order to warn you of a possible loud noise danger nearby. Over time the hearing aids analyze all this information to make suggestions and automatic corrections, so you can adjust quickly to variations in the hearing environment.
What? No More Tiny 312 Batteries?
Who wants to continuously struggle with hearing aid batteries? You can now get rechargeable hearing aids. Even though you can do a lot to help increase the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, truth be told…it’s still expensive and aggravating. What’s better, they are working on technology that will recharge hearing aids without even having to take them out.
