Like many other devices, hearing aids are getting smarter all of the time. They’re also more inconspicuous and cooler than ever before. The U.S. census documents that the average American is older as the whole population gets older, and unfortunately, hearing loss, especially in older people, is really common. Approximately 37.5 million American adults and rising say they have some degree of hearing loss.
Fortunately more possibilities for treating loss of hearing are available due to exciting developments in recent hearing technology. Here are just a few of the developments that are now available.
Hearing Aids That Track Your Overall Health
Did you know that hearing aids can keep track of several key vital signs as well or better than a fitness tracker? Not only can it track the time between heartbeats to help detect potential cardiovascular concerns, but it also monitors calories burned, heart rate, step count, and the total number of steps taken. They’re also developing technology that can assess other significant vital signs including blood pressure and oxygenation of the blood. Hearing aids also often have other benefits, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will enhance your social life by bettering your overall hearing. 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, you won’t even need a smartwatch or fitness device?
Streaming Made Easier And Smarter
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 using these assistants is not your thing, hearing aids that have Bluetooth provide key features such as streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or maybe even streaming directly from a smart TV. Just think of the benefits: You can steer clear of getting yelled at for having the Volume too loud while watching this year’s Big Game in a room full of loud friends. You will be able to manage your hearing loss more inconspicuously and also appreciate your shows, phone calls, and music more by having them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Did you ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what type of book you’d like to read? Or how Amazon seems to know which products to recommend? That’s because big data and artificial intelligence are very powerful. New hearing aid technologies harness this type of intelligence and use it to make adjustments based on your past reactions. As an example, if you lowered the volume the last time you went to the train station, your hearing aid will recall that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are expanding this technology to include crowdsourcing as well, allowing information from other users to inform your hearing aids that you’re entering a loud zone. 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?
Why would you want to constantly struggle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are currently on the market. While you can do a lot to help extend the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, let’s be honest…it’s still frustrating and expensive. Better yet, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.