Products &
Hearing Aids

How to Decide

Most people will benefit from some type of hearing aid. As helpful as hearing aids may be, they have limitations. When deciding what type of hearing aid may best meet your needs, please consider the following:

• Lifestyle and activity level
  
• Dexterity or other possible limiting medical conditions
  
• Size and shape of ear and canal
  
• Cosmetic preferences
  
• Financial considerations

We work with several manufacturing companies including Phonak, Oticon, Widex, and GN Resound. They have many products in a wide range of technology levels as outlined below.

Technology

Premier Level Digital

• Amplification customized for user's type of hearing loss
  
• May provide improved speech understanding in quiet and many noisy environments
  
• Enhanced feedback management system
  
• Enhanced noise and occlusion management
  
• Adaptive, multi-frequency directional microphone technology
  
• Automatic volume adjustment depending on listening environment
  
• Automatic program switching on some models
  
• Up to 20 independent channels offer maximum flexibility for most types and degrees of hearing loss
• Multiple programs offer significant background noise management and high fidelity listening in challenging environments
• Superior sound quality
• Optional volume control
• Optional automatic telephone program available on many models
• Blue Tooth compatibility on select models

High Level Digital

• Amplification customized for user's type of hearing loss
  
• May provide improved speech understanding in quiet and many noisy environments
  
• Enhanced feedback management system
  
• Adaptive directional microphone technology
  
• Automatic volume adjustment depending on listening environment
  
• Automatic program switching on some models
  
• Up to 20 independent channels offer maximum flexibility for most types and degrees of hearing loss
  
• Multiple programs offer significant background noise management and high fidelity listening in challenging environments
• Superior sound quality
  
• Optional volume control
  
• Optional automatic telephone program available on many models
  

Mid Level Digital

• Amplification customized for the user's type of hearing loss
  
• May provide improved speech understanding in quiet and some noisy environments
  
• Basic feedback management system
  
• Very good sound quality
  
• Automatically adjusts volume depending on listening environment
  
• Four or six independently-adjustable frequency channels, depending upon manufacturer
  
• Suitable for many types of hearing loss
  
• Manual volume control available, but not required

Entry Level Digital

• Amplification more specific for the user's type of hearing loss
  
• May provide improved speech understanding in quiet and some noisy environments
  
• Basic feedback management
  
• Very good sound quality
  
• Automatically adjusts volume depending on listening environment
  
• Four or six independently-adjustable frequency channels, depending upon manufacturer
  
• Suitable for many types of hearing loss
  
• Manual volume control available, but not required

Basic Level Digital Analog

• Amplification more specific for the user's type of hearing loss
  
• May provide improved speech understanding in quiet and some noisy environments
  
• Some ability to adjust volume control manually (on some models)
  
• Good sound quality
  
• User can select from up to 3 preset programs depending on listening environment. These programs can be set for quiet vs. noisy situations
  
• Two or more frequency channels, depending upon manufacturer
  
• Suitable for many types of hearing loss

Conventional Analog

• Basic amplification to improve hearing sensitivity
  
• Provides improved speech understanding in quieter environments
  
• Limited ability to adjust for feedback problems
  
• User required to adjust volume control manually
  
• Adequate sound quality

Due to improvements in hearing aid technology and comparable costs, CENTA Hearing Center recommends basic digital hearing aids instead of conventional analog products. Most manufacturers have discontinued analog and analog-programmable instruments in favor of 100% digital designs.

CENTA Hearing Center offers digital hearing aids from Widex, Oticon, Phonak, and ReSound. Features and options vary slightly among manufacturers. Your audiologist will help you choose the right product for your needs.