Are invisible hearing aids the right choice for you?

Invisible hearing aids, do they exist? Yes.

Are they right for you? Maybe.

So, we get a lot of people coming into our clinic asking about invisible hearing aids, commonly known as IICs or invisible in the canal.

You know the ones where they’re advertised on the end of people’s fingers.

So small, absolutely teeny, tiny things that go right down your ear canal.

I’m going to make this quick. These types
of hearing aids have been around a long time,
and if you want a completely invisible solution with nothing behind your ear, then, bar devices that have to be inserted and removed by a clinician, these are an excellent option.

Nearly always though, we have to caveat this with a few things.

One, these devices are designed to fit deep inside your ear canal, and you still have to fit into that device a battery, microphones, a processor, and a receiver, so they require ear canals big enough.

If your ear canal is too narrow or too small, these are a no go from the start.

So, when looking at these, be prepared, your ears might not be right for them.

Two, with hearing loss, most people have better hearing in their low frequencies and hearing loss in their higher frequencies. Not always, but most of the time anyway.

This is why open fit receiver in the canal hearing aids work so well. As they’re open, we’re able to easily adjust the type of coupling at the end of the speaker, so we can mix in natural sound with amplification.

With any in the ear device, even if you vent it, it’s still plugging up your ear, and so we have to amplify for your hearing loss and the blockage it’s creating too.

It can lead to your head sounding like it’s in a bucket.

This is called occlusion. It’s not always a massive issue as there are things we can try and do to mitigate it, but it’s something to be aware of as the sound is not the same.

Three, modern day hearing aids have features that are absolutely awesome and make such a difference.

Things like advanced directional microphones support you in difficult noisy environments.
You’ve also got things like wireless connectivity and rechargeable hearing aids, which make them so much more convenient.

With IICs, you miss out on all of those features and you’ll likely be paying the same amount for the devices.

IICs only have one microphone and make use of the natural directionality of the pinner, but there’s no inter ear communication or anything like that, so whilst they will still sound good, you aren’t getting the full feature set.

They’re too small to house any wireless chip or rechargeable option, so you’ll need to use a size 10 battery which can be a little bit tricky if you’ve got poor dexterity as they are very, very tiny. Anyway, so it’s just worth bearing this in mind.

We’ve got plenty of very, very happy customers with IICs, but when you choose to go down that route you’re nearly always making some sort of compromise.

If them not being seen as absolutely vital, even though behind the ear options are very inconspicuous these days, then these are decent options.

It’s all about making a fully informed decision.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the different types of hearing devices, or would like to speak to one of our clinicians about how we can help you, we’ve got clinics in Kenilworth, Warwickshire and Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Give us a call on on 0800 246 1901.