The document compares analog and digital hearing aids, explaining their historical development and functioning. While 90% of hearing aids sold in the U.S. are digital, analog devices are still available due to lower costs and user preference. Digital hearing aids offer enhanced programmability and features, but analog aids remain a simpler, more affordable option for some users.

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Brief Digital vs Analog Hearing Aids Comparison Guide
A little bit of history and an explanation of how
analog devices work versus how digital devices
work is essential to understand the distinctions
between analog and digital hearing aids.
Historically, analog technology appeared first, and
as a result most hearing aids were analog until
digital signal processing (DSP) was invented, at
which point digital hearing aids appeared. At this
point, most (90%) of the hearing aids purchased in
the United States are digital, although analog hearing aids continue to be sold because they are
often less expensive, and because some people have a preference for them.
Analog hearing aids handle incoming sounds by taking the electrical sound waves as they leave
a microphone and amplifying them “as is” prior to sending them to the speakers in your ears.
Digital hearing aids take the sound waves from the microphone and transform them to digital
binary code, the “bits and bytes” and “zeros and ones” that all digital devices understand. After
the sound has been digitized, the microchip inside the hearing aid can manipulate the
information in complex ways before transforming it back to analog sound and passing it on to
the ears.
Both analog and digital hearing aids carry out the same work – they take sounds and amplify
them to allow you to hear better. Both types of hearing aids can be programmed by the
dispensers of the hearing aids to create the sound quality desired by the user, and to develop
settings appropriate for different environments. As an example, there can be distinct settings
for low-noise rooms like libraries, for noisy restaurants, and for outdoor spaces such as sports
stadiums.
But beyond programmability, the digital hearing aids often offer more controls to the user, and
have more features because of their capacity to manipulate the sounds in digital form. For
example, digital hearing aids may offer numerous channels and memories, allowing them to
store more environment-specific profiles. They can also use sophisticated rules to detect and

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reduce background noise, to remove feedback and whistling, or to selectively detect the sound
of voices and “follow” them using directional microphones.
As far as pricing is concerned, analog hearing aids are in most cases cheaper, although some
digital hearing aids are nearing the cost of analog devices by removing the more advanced
features. Some users notice a difference in the sound quality produced by analog vs digital
hearing aids, although that is largely a matter of preference, not really a matter of whether
analog or digital is “better.”