EYE GLASS AIDS – CUSHION FOR THE EYES AND EARS!
Deafness is a sensory disorder which affects a sizeable number of people all over the globe. The causes for deafness may be inherited or acquired later in life due to certain diseases, wear and tear or due to traumatic experience. The intensity of deafness of the ear may not be absolute and the afflicted person may suffer from partial hearing impairment. To rectify such a deficit, a hearing aid is used to enable the user to hear all frequencies of sound. A hearing aid is an electro acoustic device consisting of a small in-built microphone, amplifier and a speaker.
With the advent in innovation and technology in the world of hearing aids, numerous types and styles of hearing aids have been developed which suits the needs of different sects of people. Some of the commonly used hearing aid types are Behind the Ear aids (BTE), In the Ear (ITE) aids, In the Canal (ITC) and Completely in Canal (CIC) aids. During the 1950s to 1970s, a unique type of hearing aid was developed for people who were deaf and also had to wear glasses. Also during that time period, thick-rimmed spectacles were a rage among the people. Combining the two aspects gave rise to eyeglass hearing aids. The hearing aid was constructed in the spectacle such that it was attached to the temple pieces of the glasses. The earliest model of eyeglass aids had the hearing aid component only on one side of the rim due to the bulkiness of the spectacles and other technical limitations. As the bulk of the spectacles reduced in later ears, designs were developed which has binaural fittings. The two main styles of eyeglass aids were bone conduction and air conduction eyeglass aids. As the name suggests, the transmission of the sound from the outside is transmitted to the ear in either of the two media.
Another innovation was made in developing eyeglass aids was installation of the CROS configuration in the aid by which the microphone was placed in the deaf side of the ear and the ear piece was placed in the functioning ear. Eyeglass aids were also developed which used solar energy to function. The other features which have been developed in eyeglass aids are directional sensitivity which enhances the signal to noise ratio and active noise control which effectively channelizes sounds emitted from the sides and back of the head. However, eyeglass aids are not so popular now due to lack of flexibility in the design and popularity of other compact models like BTEs and ITCs.
Phonak hearing aids are very reliable and are available from various different online stores, and also in high street stores.