Like many other devices, hearing aids are getting more intuitive all of the time. They’re also more inconspicuous and more stylish than ever before. The average American is older, reports The Us Census Department, as the population as a whole continues to age, and hearing loss is, unfortunately, really common, particularly in older adults. Roughly 37.5 million adults in America and rising say they have some amount of hearing loss.
Fortunately hearing technology has had some exciting breakthroughs recently that will provide more possibilities for treating loss of hearing. A few of the inventions coming our way are presented here.
Your Overall Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are as good if not better than a fitness tracker at tracking many vital signs. Not only can it track the time in between heartbeats to help find potential cardiovascular issues, but it also tracks calories burned, heart rate, step count, and the total number of steps taken. They’re also working on technology that can measure other important vital signs like blood pressure and oxygenation of the blood. Hearing aids also often have other benefits, like the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will help your overall hearing so that your social life will improve also. Actually, social engagement is another metric we should pay attention to because it has been connected to your overall health. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your tunes, who needs a smartwatch or fitness device?
Smarter and Easier Streaming
As we become more dependant on virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri, staying connected and able to communicate with them is becoming more important. Even if talking to these assistants is not your thing, Bluetooth hearing aids offer key features such as streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or maybe even streaming directly from your smart TV. Just think of the benefits: You can avoid getting yelled at for having the Volume too loud while watching this year’s Big Game in a room full of loud friends. You will be capable of managing your hearing loss more inconspicuously and also appreciate your music, phone calls, and shows more by having them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Have you noticed that you get ads from Goodreads and they seem to already know what kind of books you like to read? Or how all your favorite kinds of things get advertised to you by Amazon? This is the power of artificial intelligence and big data. Modern hearing aids harness this kind of intelligence and use it to make adjustments according to your past reactions. As an example, if you turned down the volume the last time you visited the train station, your hearing aid will recall that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are also starting to network your hearing aids with other devices that belong to people near you in order to warn you of a possible loud noise danger nearby. Over time the hearing aids add up all this information to make recommendations and automatic corrections, so you can adjust quickly to changes in the hearing environment.
What? No More Little 312 Batteries?
Who wants to continuously wrestle with hearing aid batteries? You can now get rechargeable hearing aids. Even though you can do a lot to help extend the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, truth be told…it’s still frustrating and costly. Better still, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.
