This document discusses the differences between analog and digital hearing aids. Historically, analog hearing aids appeared first but most hearing aids today are digital. Analog hearing aids amplify sounds directly while digital hearing aids convert sounds to binary code first before amplification, allowing for more complex sound manipulation. Both can be programmed for different environments but digital hearing aids generally offer more features and flexibility. While analog hearing aids are often cheaper, digital models provide better sound quality for many although preferences may vary between wearers.

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The Basics of Digital versus Analog Hearing Aids
To understand the difference between analog and digital hearing aids,
you need to first appreciate the history of analog vs digital, and the
alternative ways that they process and amplify sounds. Historically,
analog technology appeared first, and consequently most hearing aids
were analog until digital signal processing (DSP) was developed, after
which digital hearing aids appeared. Currently, the majority (90%) of the
hearing aids purchased in the US
are digital, although analog hearing
aids are still sold because they are
often less expensive, and also
because some people have a
preference for them.
Analog hearing aids handle
inbound sounds by taking the
electrical sound waves as they leave a microphone and amplifying them
“as is” before sending the sound waves to the speakers in your ears. In
contrast, digital hearing aids take the same sound waves from the
microphone, however before amplifying them they turn the sound waves
into the binary code of ones and zeros that all digital devices understand.
This digital information can then be altered in many complex ways by the
micro-chip within the hearing aid, prior to being converted back into
regular analog signals and sent to the speakers.
Remember that both analog and digital hearing aids have the same
function – they take sounds and boost them so that you can hear them

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more easily. Both analog and digital hearing aids can be programmable,
which means that they contain microchips that can be modified to adjust
sound quality to suit the user, and to create various settings for different
environments. For example, there can be different settings for low-noise
locations like libraries, for noisy restaurants, and for outdoor spaces like
stadiums.
Digital hearing aids, because of their ability to manipulate the sounds in
digital form, generally offer more features and flexibility, and are
commonly user-configurable. For example, digital hearing aids may offer
numerous channels and memories, allowing them to store more
environment-specific profiles. Other features of digital hearing aids
include the ability to automatically reduce background noise and remove
feedback or whistling, or the ability to prefer the sound of human voices
over other sounds.
Price-wise, most analog hearing aids continue to be less expensive than
digital hearing aids, however, some reduced-feature digital hearing aids
fall into the same general price range. There is often a noticable
difference in sound quality, but the question of whether analog or digital
is “better” is up to the wearer, and the ways that they are used to hearing
sounds.