But the whole package.
One can hear 0 dB with an analog hearing aid and can't discriminate worth anything.
One can hear 0 dB with a digital hearing aid and discriminate all the sounds of the spectrum.
One can hear 0 dB with a CI and hear amazingly well with the appropriate maps.
One can hear 0 dB with an analog hearing and hear well.
One can hear 0 dB with a digital hearing aid and hear like crap.
One can hear 0 dB with a CI and hear very bad with the wrong maps.
Just goes to show that dB isn't everything. What it boils down to is:
1. The processing method.
Or, rather, how the hearing aid sound signal is being processed. Digital hearing aids have completely different processing methods than analog. And, as I've personally experienced, sounds can be completely different from Hearing Aid to Hearing Aid (even between digital - digital and analog - analog).
2. The algorithms involved.
The algorithm involved can be different from hearing aid to hearing aid. So, it's important to try different hearing aids fitted by your audiologist to figure out which can be best for you.
3. The fitting
And, of course, it also boils down to the fitting performed by the audiologist. If you have an incompetent audiologist, then find a good one. Even CI results depend heavily on the audiologist involved and how well they're able to fine tune the mappings. If you have a terrible audiologist and your hearing aid isn't programmed or adjusted correctly, or you have a hearing aid that's wrong for your loss, then you will not hear well.
That's why it's important to try several different aids for comparison and seeing how well they stack up to your own expectations, what you want out of the hearing aid, and everything else involved with such a decision. That's why it's important to consider all factors involved - and not just dB.
It can mean the difference between somewhat okay hearing and the best hearing you've ever had.
One can hear 0 dB with an analog hearing aid and can't discriminate worth anything.
One can hear 0 dB with a digital hearing aid and discriminate all the sounds of the spectrum.
One can hear 0 dB with a CI and hear amazingly well with the appropriate maps.
One can hear 0 dB with an analog hearing and hear well.
One can hear 0 dB with a digital hearing aid and hear like crap.
One can hear 0 dB with a CI and hear very bad with the wrong maps.
Just goes to show that dB isn't everything. What it boils down to is:
1. The processing method.
Or, rather, how the hearing aid sound signal is being processed. Digital hearing aids have completely different processing methods than analog. And, as I've personally experienced, sounds can be completely different from Hearing Aid to Hearing Aid (even between digital - digital and analog - analog).
2. The algorithms involved.
The algorithm involved can be different from hearing aid to hearing aid. So, it's important to try different hearing aids fitted by your audiologist to figure out which can be best for you.
3. The fitting
And, of course, it also boils down to the fitting performed by the audiologist. If you have an incompetent audiologist, then find a good one. Even CI results depend heavily on the audiologist involved and how well they're able to fine tune the mappings. If you have a terrible audiologist and your hearing aid isn't programmed or adjusted correctly, or you have a hearing aid that's wrong for your loss, then you will not hear well.
That's why it's important to try several different aids for comparison and seeing how well they stack up to your own expectations, what you want out of the hearing aid, and everything else involved with such a decision. That's why it's important to consider all factors involved - and not just dB.
It can mean the difference between somewhat okay hearing and the best hearing you've ever had.
