Like many other devices, hearing aids are getting more intuitive all of the time. They’re also more inconspicuous and cooler than ever before. The U.S. census reports that the average American is older as the population as a whole ages, and unfortunately, hearing loss, particularly in older people, is really common. Approximately 37.5 million adults in America say they have some amount of hearing loss, and these numbers are rising.
Luckily more options for treating hearing loss are available because of amazing breakthroughs in recent hearing technology. Here are just a few of the enhancements coming our way.
Hearing Aids That Track Your Overall Health
Hearing aids are as good if not better than a fitness tracker at tracking many vital signs. Not only can it monitor the time between heartbeats to help find potential cardiovascular problems, but it also monitors calories burned, heart rate, step count, and the total number of steps taken. They are even working on technology that can determine blood pressure, oxygenation of the blood and other relevant vital signs. Hearing aids also often have other pluses, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will improve your social life by helping your overall hearing. Actually, social engagement has been connected to your general health also, so really it’s another health metric we should be looking at. With these new hearing aids, you won’t even need a fitness device or smartwatch because the hearing aids can sync to your smartphone so you can listen to your tunes.
More intelligent and Simpler Streaming
Staying connected to your virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa is becoming more important as people get more attached to these features. Even if talking to these assistants is not your thing, Bluetooth hearing aids provide key features including streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or even streaming directly from a smart TV. Just consider the benefits: You can steer clear of 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 able to manage your loss of hearing more discreetly and also enjoy your music, phone calls, and shows more by having them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what kind of book you’d like to read? Or how all your favorite kinds of items get promoted to you by Amazon? That’s because big data and artificial intelligence are very powerful. Modern hearing aids harness this type of intelligence and use it to make changes according to your past reactions. For example, if you lowered the volume the last time you went to the train station, your hearing aid will remember that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are expanding this technology to include crowdsourcing also, enabling information from other users to notify your hearing aids that you’re entering a loud zone. Over time you can adjust quickly to changes in the hearing environment because your hearing aid will make suggestions based on all the information it has collected.
No More Little Batteries to Replace.
Who wants to constantly struggle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are currently on the market. While you can do a lot to help extend the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, truth be told…it’s still costly and aggravating. Better yet, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.