Digital means that a information is presented, transmitted or processed in a discrete (as opposed to continous) sort of way. It's taking over in many areas of our lives because computer technology has progressed so far that digital processing can now handle many things that, in the past, could only be done with analog.

Now, many things are "going digital". Miniaturization and price reductions now permit computer technology to convert things that are basically analog into a series of "bits". These "bits" represent values describing the signal or the information to be presented. One advantage is that computer chips can be programmed to process that information in many more interesting ways than analog processing could manage.

Sound travels in waves; so it's, by nature, analog. Hearing aids, until recently, were analog electronic devices that just responded to (and amplified) the sound. Analog circuits could do some processing of the sound (for example, compressing the gain based on the incoming volume), but the amount of processing that could be done with an analog hearing aid was somewhat limited.

Typically, an analog aid had only a couple of tiny screws to adjust its "settings" ... one to control the sound pressure level and one to control the clipping.

So, if analog is the natural medium of sound, why would anyone consider a digital hearing aid? The answer is that the programs of a digital hearing aid can be provide dramatically increased controls and the processing of the sound can be much more sophisticated. For example, some digital aids can recognize and suppress feedback before you even hear it.

A digital hearing aid can have a complex set of rules which can be set to precisely control the way that aid processes the sound or controls its own settings.

Digital hearing aids can do two basic things "digitally"

first, they can store and allow you to manipulate the "settings" in digital form. This give you many more options on how to adjust or adapt your aid(s) to your particular hearing loss.

Second, digital aids can actually convert the analog sound they "hear" through the aid's microphones into a series of "bits" (ones or zeros, which when grouped together represent the sound). Once the sound is digital, it can be analyzed and manipulated in many more ways than an analog aid was able to handle. After the digital processing is completed, the aid must convert the signal back to an analog signal so the aid's speakers can make the desired (amplified and massaged) sounds in your ear.

Digital aids are new, and there is a lot of hype surrounding them. It's probably true that they are the wave of the future, and it's probably true that they are as good as and in some cases better than analog aids (for most people).

But, they are not "miracles" as some of the hype would have you believe. Indeed, in some cases, a good fit with an analog aid is as good or better than the best fit one could make with a digital aid. Many people actually prefer analog aids.

So, don't believe all the "hype". Some is certainly justified, but for many people, analog is still a good choice (and a much less expensive choice) in a hearing aid.

Learn more about:

• analog hearing aids
• hybrid hearing aids
• digital hearing aids