Hearing aids, like lots of other devices, are getting smarter, less conspicuous and more stylish all the time, and just in time. The U.S. census reports that the average American is older as the whole population gets older, and hearing loss is, unfortunately, very common, particularly in older adults. About 37.5 million American adults and rising say they have some amount of hearing loss.
Luckily more possibilities for dealing with loss of hearing are available due to amazing advancements in recent hearing technology. Here are just a few of the developments that are now available.
Your General Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Did you realize that hearing aids can keep track of 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 detect any cardiovascular concerns. They’re also developing technology that can assess other significant vital signs such as blood pressure and oxygenation of the blood. Hearing aids also often have other benefits, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will help you hear generally so that your social life will improve as well. Actually, social involvement has been linked to your overall health as well, so really it’s another health metric we should be looking at. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your songs, who needs a smartwatch or fitness device?
Streaming Made Simpler And Smarter
Staying connected to your virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa is becoming more important as people get more addicted to these features. Even if using these assistants is not your thing, Bluetooth hearing aids allow you to stream sound from any Bluetooth device such as your smart TV or phone. Imagine the benefits of this: 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 turning the volume too high). Being able to directly stream music, phone calls, shows and more right to your ears not only helps you hear and enjoy them more, but it will help you handle your hearing loss discreetly.
Automatic Adjustments
Did you ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what kind of book you’d like to read? Or how all your favorite kinds of items get advertised to you by Amazon? This is the power of artificial intelligence and big data. Modern hearing aids harness this type of intelligence and use it to make changes according to your past reactions. For instance, if you lowered the volume the last time you visited the train station, your hearing aid will remember 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 potential loud noise danger nearby. Over time the hearing aids add up all this information to make recommendations and automatic corrections, so you can adjust quickly to variations in the hearing environment.
You Won’t Have to Keep Replacing Those Little Batteries
Why would you want to constantly wrestle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are now on the market. While you can do a lot to help extend the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, truth be told…it’s still pricey and annoying. Better yet, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.