The definitions of hearing aids and their meaning read rather brittle: "The hearing aid is an aid that enables hearing-impaired people to compensate for the deficit or damage of their auditory organ and thus to restore their speech understanding. The definition itself makes it clear that the hearing aid approach falls short - after all, it assumes that merely "compensating for the damage to the auditory organ" is enough to restore speech understanding. This misconception, which has persisted for more than 100 years - the first electric hearing aid was invented by Miller Reese Hutchison in 1898 - needs to be corrected and drastically expanded.
In fact, we know today that the ear is comparable to a kind of analog-to-digital converter. Any sound, no matter whether we want to perceive it or not, is translated into nerve impulses by the ear and transmitted to the hearing centre in the brain. There - and not in the ear - it is decided which information is relevant and further processed. And which information is not important and should be hidden.
Modern hearing aids have impressive filtering options that can support this process. However, how often does the fully successful and satisfying hearing aid fitting suffer from the fact that the designated hearing aid wearer is not able to cope with the noise around him again thanks to the technically high-quality ear fitting and demands more and more noise suppression by the hearing system? This, in turn, is usually quickly at the expense of hearing comprehension. To put it simply: a distinction must be made between feel-good hearing aids and understanding hearing aids. But the customer always expects both.
However, the (potentially) most powerful filter of your customers does not sit on but always between the ears. For decades our brain has been doing this filter work every day without any effort. From the age of 40 onwards, some will notice that in noisy situations, such as in restaurants or in public, it becomes more strenuous to follow conversations without restriction. Here he notices for the first time the degradation process of his listening comprehension, which often begins creepingly from the beginning / mid-20s and to which we are all more or less strongly subjected.
With 60+ the ears move into the "border area", as it is formulated so often straight by the specialist. This means that the hearing loss of >30dB is so pronounced that the statutory health insurance funds consider a hearing aid fitting to be appropriate and (partially) finance it. However, this target group often does not benefit enough from the hearing aid, because the main problem will not be in the ear, but in the processing and perception between the ears.
Dies lässt sich mit einfachen Mitteln überprüfen: So bietet etwa der Bass-Test (Software) eine solide Möglichkeit, grundlegende zentrale Hörfunktionen zu überprüfen und festzustellen, wie es um die Fähigkeit der Sprachverarbeitung auf basaler Ebene bei den Betroffenen steht.
Automatischer PDF-Download mit Informationen zum Thema Bass-Test (Software) - Klicken Sie hier.
Der automatisch erhältliche Bericht weist Stärken und Schwächen aus und dokumentiert das Höralter des Kunden für die jeweilige Funktion. Ein Screening von zwei solchen zentralen Hörfunktionen kann jeder Interessierte selbst mit der Audiofitness App which can be downloaded free of charge in the App-Store by Apple and the Playstore by Google as wekk.
With the help of the AXONE module, the acoustician supports the client in the immediate fitting phase during hearing aid acclimatisation and can significantly promote and accelerate the client's path of experience - a kind of physiotherapy for the ear and brain as preparation for further hearing comprehension training, which is an essential prerequisite for the client's hearing comprehension success. With the hörFit module, the Hörfitness app offers long-term support for the hearing aid user - and makes it clear that continuous - moderate - brain performance training can impressively enhance the benefits of the hearing aids. Hearing fitness leads out of the feeling of being "old" or even "ill" with a hearing aid and supports acousticians and end users in getting the maximum benefit out of a hearing aid fitting together.