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We supply and fit hearing aids for people in
CAPE TOWN AND THE SURROUNDING AREA

Providing our patients with suitable hearing aids in Cape Town is a vital act of rehabilitative service from our team of audiologists. We are all motivated to be in our field through our own personal experiences. The experiences that have shaped us as individuals, ensure that we are focussed on our patient’s needs. We are compassionate, supportive and holistic, and we value the interpersonal relationships that we nurture with our patients.

hearing aids Cape Town

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We take the time to get to know you. You are more than your hearing loss, and we need to understand your hearing loss in the context of your lifestyle needs. Since we are an independent audiology practice, we can put our patients at the forefront of our decisions. We work with several trusted manufacturers to provide you with a personally tailored, customised hearing solution.

We want to hear from you!

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Types of
HEARING AIDS

Advancing technology means that there are a variety of styles, makes, models and types of hearing aids. This wearable technology is receiving constant innovation by audiologists and engineers worldwide, to address the needs of people with hearing loss through more and more advanced solutions.

Hearing aid styles refer to the cosmetic ‘look’ of the hearing instrument. We know that our patients would like to look good, usually with an ‘invisible hearing aid’. Many new devices are unnoticeable. However, the style of a device also has important implications for hearing loss, as certain types of hearing losses need a certain hearing aid style. We will ensure that a solution addresses your cosmetic preference as far as possible, while still addressing essential sound and lifestyle requirements of the sounds.

The following styles need to be matched to your hearing, cosmetic, and lifestyle needs:

behind the ear

Behind The Ear

Instruments that fit Behind The Ear are designed for mild to profound hearing loss. They are sometimes more cosmetically attractive when on the ear than other styles (depending on how they are connected to the ear canal). They allow us to keep the ear canal open, or semi-open, which is especially good for ears with almost normal ‘low-pitch’ (low frequency) hearing despite substantially more ‘high-pitch’ (high frequency) hearing loss. These hearing devices can process information through two microphones, have extra user-controls, and accommodate batteries that last longer. They are more robust because the electronics are more protected from the environment of the internal ear canal. The connection between the instrument and the ear varies, depending on the acoustic and cosmetic needs of each person. The connection can be achieved using several different sized air tubes, OR, though an ultra-discreet wire that visually disappears if it is well-fitted. A dome (a soft silicone tip) is very comfortable inside the ear, or a micro-mould (an acrylic connection inside the ear canal) will keep the device seated in the ear canal during use. Because this is inside, it is also not easily visible. In fact, it is hard to take a picture of these hearing aids on the ear, because when they are fitted properly, they are often not visible.

in the canal

Completely In The Canal (CIC)

Instruments that fit completely inside the canal (Invisible in Canal (IIC); Completely in Canal (CIC)) are cosmetically appealing and work very well on the telephone. They are designed for mild to severe hearing loss To fit inside the canal, the small faceplate (the outer end of the instrument) can only accommodate one microphone. This has implications for the processing of sound in noisy environments, because most often, dual microphones achieve better noise processing.

in the ear

In The Ear

In The Ear hearing aids may fit mild to severe hearing loss. Due to their larger-than-CIC size, they can have two microphones for directional hearing in noisy environments, accommodate extra controls for the user, and be . vented (an ‘air-hole’s positioned through the hearing aid to allow some of the lower-pitched resonances to escape) They also work well on the telephone and are usually easy to insert and remove.

How these devices work:

To obtain the best outcome with your hearing aids, it is important to understand the basic of how they work:

  • Sounds of speech and your environment enter the hearing instrument through either one or two microphones.
  • Sound is an analogue energy wave, so in digital hearing instruments, the sound is sampled accurately by the hearing aid. This means that it extracts information at thousands of points per second, and converts the information into a code representing the incoming soundwave, that the microchip can read.
  • The sound is analysed by the microchip to define its pitch, loudness time-signature and direction. The ability to analyse complex features of sound is dependent on the processing power of the microchips. For this reason, it is truly important to select an assistive device with adequate capacity to meet your unique needs, obtained through a comprehensive diagnostic test.
  • The hearing aids arrive at the audiologist with no settings on the microchip. They must be set by your audiologist to compensate for your hearing loss. The settings that we will input are determined by your diagnostic test and at your fitting. The amplifier increases the sound energy at specific pitches and for different incoming volumes (from soft to loud). Your success with your chosen devices will have some dependence on these settings.
  • In addition, the audiologist can set many advanced features, including but not limited to: the maximum volume setting (to keep your hearing safe, and keep you comfortable); noise reduction (depending on the noise management capacity of your chosen technology); speech enhancement (dependent on the ability of your chosen technology to isolate certain elements of speech); wind noise management (for people who spend a lot of time outdoors); response to impact sounds (to manage the effect of sudden sounds, such as slamming doors, or crockery and cutlery); variation for different environments (which, in depending on your selected technology, may allow your hearing aids to automatically adapt to the environment you are in).
  • Many hearing aids (Bluetooth, wireless, and radio frequency) can be set for wireless connection to help you hear sounds coming from electronic devices. To function well in society, some people would prefer a clear connection to television, cellular phones, computers and music devices.
  • Many of these can be adjusted through a fine-tuning process to obtain the optimum settings from the device to obtain the best balance between comfort and clarity, for you.
  • The sound is delivered to the ear through a loudspeaker (or receiver).
  • Some special types may be used to transmit through the bone, directly to the nerve using a vibration outlet.
  • audiologist plays a vital role: We contribute to your outcome through a good diagnosis, guide you through the selection of the right technology for your needs, and we set them so that they perform correctly for your hearing loss.
  • Hearing loss is a change in the function of some part of your auditory system. A hearing aid assists to compensate for that change. One that is optimally designed and set, will address more of your needs. However, when it is impossible to cure the underlying disorder of the ear or auditory pathway, some difficulty may remain.
  • An audiologist may assist you to also learn more effective ways of listening to overcome some of the limitations of your auditory system in addition to the hearing aid (called “Aural Rehabilitation”).
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For professional help pertaining to your hearing, or hearing aids, in Cape Town and surrounds, please make an appointment to visit our practice.