Hearing Aid Styles: Hearing aids come in a wide range of sizes and styles, including completely in the canal (CIC), in the canal (ITC), in the ear (ITE) or behind the ear (BTE). There are two new types of hearing aids: Open-fitting and the deep Post-auricular-Canal (PAC). The Open fitting is used for patients who have normal or near normal hearing in low frequencies with complaint of hearing echo and their own voice. Widex Mind, Inteo, Aikia, and Flash are example of open fitting. The new type of open fitting is called Receiver in the Canal (RIC). Widex Passion and Siemens Pure series are examples of RIC hearing aids. The type of hearing aid recommended depends on your individual needs. Hearing Aid Technology: Today's technology provides significant advances over older conventional hearing aids. With the invention of modern computer software, we now have a vast selection of hearing aids using digital processing and directional microphones for better hearing in many listening situations. CONVENTIONAL HEARING AIDS may have linear or compression circuits. Linear Circuit: A linear circuit is one that is simply an amplifier, it makes EVERYTHING louder. This type of circuit is the least sophisticated and gives no means to filter out unwanted background noise. Compression Circuit: A compression circuit also turns everything up, but with less distortion because of the way it processes sound. This type of circuit is also better able to accommodate a patient's range of hearing. These types of hearing aids along with their programmable versions are considered outdated since one can purchase digital hearing aids at the same cost with significantly better sound quality. DIGITAL:This circuit has a superior fine tuning ability to match the patient's hearing loss and filter out sounds that it identifies as background noise. Digital hearing aids analyze the sounds around you and adjust the signal based on that analysis. Some hearing aids divide complex sounds into 15 different segments and process the sounds completely separately. Widex Inteo has 15 channels. Sonic Innovation velocity 24 can go up to 24 channels. There are very advanced technologies available in digital hearing aids to minimize feedback (unwanted whistle most Hearing aids emit when one opens his/her mouth or when a telephone receiver gets near the hearing aid). Widex Inteo and Mind along with several others can eliminate feedback almost in all situations. Some hearing aids are able to communicate with each other and others are able to log all the environments that patients wear the hearing aids and all the adjustment that patient made to the hearing aids. Siemens Pure, Motion, and Widex Mind are such an example. DIRECTIONAL HEARING AIDS: A DEFINITE IMPROVEMENT Directional technology utilizes dual microphones and is available in programmable or digital models. It can function in omnidirectional mode (using just one microphone) or in the directional mode (using both microphones). This directional mode would be utilized in a noisy restaurant, for example, to help you focus in on what the person or people you are with are saying, while dampening the chatter around you. Recently, many articles have confirmed the efficacy of this technology both in the BTE, Open-fit hearing aids, ITE, Half Shell and even ITC hearing aids. The newer versions of the directional microphones are adaptive. These microphones can discern where the unwanted sound is coming from and thereby adjust directionality accordingly to maximize understanding. Sonic Innovation Ion, Velocity models, and Widex Inteo, Mind, Aikia, and Siemens Pure and Motion series have this option as well.