Size and How the Hearing Aid is Worn

Size and How the Hearing Aid is Worn

The first way that we categorize hearing aids is by the size and how the hearing aid is worn.

The largest hearing aid is called a body aid. A body aid is about the size of a pack of cigarettes. It is usually held to the listener’s chest with a special harness or is carried in a shirt pocket. Body aids used to be necessary for listener’s who needed power but as technology has improved they are no longer used very often. Body aids need to be connected to the users ear with ear molds. A wire runs from the hearing aid and connects to the ear mold by way of snap ring.

Behind-the-Ear (BTE) hearing aids are the most common type of hearing aid worn by children. The hearing fits behind the child’s ear and is connected to the ear by the use of an ear mold. BTE hearing aids have the advantage of being small but still able to deliver power when needed.

A BTE aid will have a compartment to hold a battery, an on/off switch, and a volume control. Sometimes the on/off switch will have a setting marked T as well. We will talk about the T setting later.

The BTE has a curved hard plastic piece coming out of hearing aid and connecting to the tubing on the ear mold. This part is called the tone hook. Some times changing a tone hook’s size and shape can help a BTE aid fit better.

It is easy to lose a BTE aid because they are small. Another problem is that even though BTE aids are small, they can be large compared to a young child’s head. Sometimes there just isn’t enough ear to hold the BTE against the child’s head. Fortunately there are some things that can be done to solve the problem. Adjustments to the tone hook or ear mold often can help hold the hearing aid more tightly to the child’s ear. There is also a piece of tubing, called a “Huggy”, which connects to the hearing aid and helps hold it against the head.

The other types of hearing aids are In-the-Ear (ITE), In-the-Canal (ITC), and Completely-in-the-Canal (CIC). These smaller aids don’t have as much power as BTE aids and are not typically recommended for children. These hearing aids are small and not very noticeable when worn. However, the hearing aid is built into the ear mold. Whenever there is a need for a new ear mold, the hearing aid user is without the hearing aid. Also because of the small size of the hearing aid, very good fine motor control is needed to operate the switches and replace batteries.

The above is taken from: http://tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/winter05/hearing.htm