Can someone explain? Digital and Analogs?

L

Lissa

Active Member
Premium Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
4,354
Reaction score
0
What is the different between digital and Analogs hearing aids?
I have had analogs most of my life, when I was 10 they tried me on digital hearing aids and I couldnt hear a thing. Why?
 
People's experiences with digitals and analogs differ. Some people hear better with digitals while others do not. I couldn't benefit from digitals and found that the sound quality of speech was weak and distorted. The only thing I liked about my digitals was how well I could hear environmental sounds. I've mentioned this before, but one of my audis told me that my hearing was too poor to benefit from digital aids. In looking back at my experiences, I'm beginning to think he was right.
 
With digitals I found I cannot hear much and sound isnt clear, but I am not sure if the hearing aid i have got is digital or analog? Because if it is digital then that might be why im having some trouble with it
 
Depend on your ears.

I had analog before and hard time to understand any sounds at all till update to digital and more clear and understand.
 
Deafteen90 said:
With digitals I found I cannot hear much and sound isnt clear, but I am not sure if the hearing aid i have got is digital or analog? Because if it is digital then that might be why im having some trouble with it
Click to expand...

What is the model of your hearing aid?
 
Spirit 3 SP by Oticon

Also known as Sumo DM if you go private
 
It varies on the individual.

Analog hearing aids are simple. Digital hearing aids are computerized.

My digital hearing aid has anti-feedback. It's a great benefit for conversations since it focuses on regular sounds and reduces background sounds. It also has another mode that reduces background sounds even more (such as in a crowded restaurant).

However, it can be a problem for music and television. Since sounds from television and music can be considered feedback, it's reduced... so the quality of music and television sounds are not as good. That's where the 3rd mode comes in... the MTV mode. It does not use anti-feedback. If I listen to movies or music, I switch to that mode.
 
Analog is more "natural" however problem is - you will miss out lot of "environment" sound
Digital is like what everybody said - a computerized sound. It has ability to amplify or de-amplify the certain sound. It can also eliminate or reduce "background noise"

I have used analog for a long time until few years ago. When I first wore digital HA, it was disconcerting. After a while, I got used to it and I got comfortable with it as I'm able to hear much more with it than analog.

but really.... everybody's different. analog would work better for some and digital for others...
 
Jiro said:
Analog is more "natural" however problem is - you will miss out lot of "environmental" sound
Digital is like what everybody said - a computerized sound. It has ability to amplify or de-amplify the certain sound. It can also eliminate or reduce "background noise"

I have used analog for a long time until few years ago. When I first wore digital HA, it was disconcerting. After a while, I got used to it and I got comfortable with it as I'm able to hear much more with it than analog.

but really.... everybody's different. analog would work better for some and digital for others...
Click to expand...
Yeah.

Some of my musician friends and friends who enjoy listening to music... prefer analog hearing aids.

This is my second digital hearing aid that I'm wearing. My first digital hearing aid was in 1999. Unfortunately, it only lasted 1 year before it died on me... just a few days after the warranty expired. :(

My analog hearing aid lasted me from 1993 to 2007. I'm thinking about buying another of that same analog hearing aid so that I'll have a back-up hearing aid for heavy use. :)
 
VamPyroX said:
Yeah.

Some of my musician friends and friends who enjoy listening to music... prefer analog hearing aids.

This is my second digital hearing aid that I'm wearing. My first digital hearing aid was in 1999. Unfortunately, it only lasted 1 year before it died on me... just a few days after the warranty expired. :(

My analog hearing aid lasted me from 1993 to 2007. I'm thinking about buying another of that same analog hearing aid so that I'll have a back-up hearing aid for heavy use. :)
Click to expand...

My Oticon DigiFocus II super power BTEs gave me nothing but trouble and needed to be repaired frequently.

However, my analog Oticon 380Ps did not. They work perfectly to this day and I received them in 1991. :)
 
From my experience analogue HAs last a lot longer than digitals, I suppose with less circuitry there's less to go wrong, but the casing on my analogues seemed to be more durable too.
 
Hear Again said:
From what I understand, the Oticon Spirit 3 SP is a different hearing aid than the Sumo DM.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure whether you're right about this, but in the UK the NHS use different names for the same HAs that are sold privately. Mine are Siemens Reflex DSPs, which aren't available privately under that name, but look identical to Siemens Centra SPs.
 
djchur said:
I'm not sure whether you're right about this, but in the UK the NHS use different names for the same HAs that are sold privately. Mine are Siemens Reflex DSPs, which aren't available privately under that name, but look identical to Siemens Centra SPs.
Click to expand...

They may be identical in England, but here in the U.S. the Spirit 3 SP is a different hearing aid than the Sumo DM.
 
Oh right, in england they are the sumo. I used to have phonak superos in the past but i didnt hear good with them. I used to have widex senso p38 which i loved and wish i had again. I think i had those aids for a really long time.
 
Deafteen90
widex senso p38 is a older high power digital aid that I tried once but the Supero was better but I still wear my analog aid and it just happens to work very well with my totally all digital Cochear implant.
 
Deafteen90 said:
What is the different between digital and Analogs hearing aids?
I have had analogs most of my life, when I was 10 they tried me on digital hearing aids and I couldnt hear a thing. Why?
Click to expand...

I got my first digitals when I was 16 and I heard better in every way. I noticed environmental sounds were louder and I was also hearing more sounds.
 
it turns out that a friend of mine has the exact same aids as me and she says its a digital aid and she really likes her. I guess it just not great for me, hopefully ill be getting a new aid at some point.

Thanks for the link, Frisky feline!
 
I wore analog all my life since I was 5 and when I was 34 my audi let me try the Sumo digital aids. Oh I hated them! My biggest peeve was when I entered a noisy place such as a resturant or something my aids would immediately get lower and muffled. I could not hear, not even the person across from me. It would fustrate me to no end. The aids would do the same thing when I would turn on the vacumn. They would get all muffled on me. So I complained and my audi told me that my ears were so used to analog and used to "hearing" everything. He said sometimes digitals are not for everyone. So I am happy with my Sumo analogs. :)
 
Back
Top