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Power CIC?
Sat, 06/19/2010 - 10:11
My ENT told me that I will need to get a power aid for my hearing loss. What does the term power aid actually mean? I tried google-ing "power aid" and it brought up HAs in the BTE style, is this the only type available? I was really hoping to get small CIC aids so that they won't be as noticeable.
Mon, 01/09/2012 - 02:48
#2
The completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aid is a small custom-made hearing aid that fits completely inside the ear canal. Besides the benefit of being small in size, the CIC provides a closer proximity to the eardrum which can improve the perceived sound quality and volume. Thanks.
ENT specialists don't fit hearing aids and often aren't up to date on the latest hearing aid technology. My experience with ENTs is that they lose interest when they realize that there's not a medical solution for the problem.
The term power aid is aactually a bit old fashioned and refers to analog hearing aids that used a class B circuit instead of a less powerful class A circuit.
Now hearing professionals will just ensure that your digitally programmable hearing aids have plenty of power in them and are programmed to match your loss.
People who's loss is part conductive and part sensorineural usually feel that they need more power than a typical user who's loss is not mixed.
A CIC would probably work for you if you had the right technology. You'd be surprised by the power you get in that kind of aid using modern technology without issues of feedback.
However as a general rule, the smaller the aid, the less power it has if your hearing gets worse in the future.