Digital hearing aids take sound waves from a microphone, convert them to binary code, process and manipulate the data using a microchip, and then convert it back to sound. They offer more features than analog hearing aids, such as storing different environment-specific profiles and reducing background noise. While digital hearing aids are generally more expensive, some lower-cost options remove more advanced features. Both analog and digital hearing aids can be programmed to aid hearing in different environments, though some users report differences in sound quality between the two.

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Quick Analog vs Digital Hearing Aids Comparison Guide
To fully 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 amplify and process sounds. Analog
hearing aids came out first, and were the norm in
most hearing aids for many years. Subsequently,
with the arrival of digital signal processing (DSP)
technology, digital hearing aids also began to
emerge. At the moment, the majority (90%) of the
hearing aids purchased in the US are digital, although analog hearing aids are still sold because
they’re often lower priced, and because some people prefer them.
Analog hearing aids handle inbound sounds by taking the electrical sound waves as they
emerge from a microphone and amplifying them “as is” before sending them to the speakers in
your ears. Digital hearing aids take the sound waves from the microphone and convert them to
digital binary code. After the sound is digitized, the microchip within the hearing aid can
process and manipulate the data in sophisticated ways before transforming it back to analog
sound and delivering it to the ears.
Analog and digital hearing aids carry out the same work – they take sounds and amplify them to
enable you to hear better. Both varieties 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 listening environments. As an example, there might be distinct
settings for low-noise locations like libraries, for busy restaurants, and for large areas such as
sports stadiums.
Digital hearing aids, because of their capacity to manipulate the sounds in digital form, often
have 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. They can also use advanced rules to detect and reduce

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background noise, to eliminate feedback and whistling, or to selectively prefer the sound of
human voices and “follow” them using directional microphones.
In terms of price, analog hearing aids are in most cases cheaper, although some digital hearing
aids are nearing the price of analog devices by removing the more sophisticated features. Some
users detect a difference in the sound quality produced by analog versus digital hearing aids,
although that is largely a matter of preference, not really a matter of whether analog or digital
is “better.”