June 7, 2021

Hearing Aids vs. Amplifiers: What’s the Difference?

Today, there are numerous advertisements in magazines and on television for products that will enhance your hearing. Although many of these devices may look like hearing aids, they typically are not. These devices are called “amplifiers” or “personal sound amplification products (PSAPs)”.  Although PSAPs have been around for many years, new age marketing techniques have made them more readily available to consumers.

One of the major differences between hearing aids and PSAPs is how they function and how they are programmed.  Hearing aids are programmed for each person’s specific hearing loss while PSAPs generally make sound louder. Hearing aids are programmed using sophisticated software after a thorough hearing test is completed.  Audiologist and hearing instrument specialists use the results of the hearing test to program each frequency with a specific amount of amplification for the best possible hearing outcomes.  A person may, and typically does, need different amounts of amplification at various pitches or frequencies. On the contrary, a PSAP turns everything up globally, just like increasing the volume on the television.  For many people, this results in some pitches being WAY too loud.   An additional benefit to hearing aids is that the technology does much more that just “turn certain pitches louder”.  There are features such as background noise reduction, Bluetooth connectivity, and maximum output limits; all features for maximum benefit.

If you are interested in exploring hearing aids through JHBI, feel free to give us a call at 904-399-0350.

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