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Super Power Hearing Aids

Super Power hearing aids are a relative newcomer to the hearing aid market and they are designed especially for users with severe to profound hearing loss.

70% of people who treat hearing loss with hearing aids are classed as having mild to moderate hearing loss, which means that they have difficulty hearing sounds between 20dB and 60dB. The remaining 30% of hearing aid users are classed as either having severe hearing loss, where they struggle to hear sounds up to 80dB and those who have profound hearing loss and have difficulty hearing sounds over 80dB. To put this into context a lawnmower registers at around 90dB.

In the past standard hearing aids have not been able to produce enough power to treat those with severe to profound hearing loss, however with recent advances in miniaturisation and other technologies there are now a selection of hearing aids that are able to amplify sounds for this range. These are known as ‘Super Power’ hearing aids and are especially designed for those with severe and profound hearing loss.

Super power hearing aids need to be able to perform more functions that just amplifying sounds to much higher levels. For example many people with severe to profound hearing loss report being able to hear sounds but not being able to make sense of them. So Super Power hearing aids need to be able to fulfil the following functions:

• Powerful Amplification - the main function of a Super Power hearing aid is the ability to amplify sounds to a level where users with severe to profound hearing loss. This is achieved by using the larger and powerful battery sizes and extra powerful processing chips and amplifiers.
• Feedback Cancellation - a common issue with very powerful hearing aids is that they can have serious issues with feedback causes annoying and embarrassing whistling noises when they come into close proximity with other objects, such as hugging someone or even just wearing a hat. However the new generation of ‘Super Power’ hearing aids include advanced feedback cancellation technology which is able to detect and deaden true feedback, whilst maintaining other feedback like noises, which are actually part of that natural audio landscape.
• Powerful Receiver - in order to be able to amplify sounds to a high level but keep them clear  and crisp, rather than just a fuzzy loud noise, Super Power hearing aids require a very powerful receiver that can pick up each of the sounds’ subtle nuances that when amplified allow the sound to keep it's clarity.
• Frequency Transposition - many people with severe to profound hearing loss have particular difficulty in hearing sounds at either very high or very low frequencies. Even with extreme amplification they still would not be able to hear sounds in these frequency ranges. So Super Power hearing aids also include the ability to transpose sounds from higher and/or lower frequencies (depending on your personal requirements) to more moderate frequencies that can then be successfully amplified.
• Direct Audio Streaming - many Super Power hearing aids also have the built-in functionality to stream audio directly to your hearing aids, where they are then highly amplified for ease of hearing television, music and telephone calls etc.

So what do Super Power hearing aids look like?

Most Super Power hearing aids fall into the Behind The Ear (BTE) style or sometimes they have an Open and Receiver In Canal Hearing Aids (Open / RIC) design. This is because these styles have the most room for the larger batteries and higher levels of processing power that are required by users with severe to profound hearing loss. Super Power hearing aids also usually feature custom ear moulds that fill the entire ear concha, again allowing increased processing power and amplification directly into the ear canal.

For more information about Super Power hearing aids and many of the other hearing aid types available contact our experts today. We can also arrange for your free hearing test with one of our network of qualified local audiologists.

To View full details of other types of Hearing Aid in more detail, learn more by clicking on the links below

Behind The Ear Hearing Aids (BTE)
Open and Receiver In Canal Hearing Aids (Open / RIC)
In The Ear Hearing Aids (ITE)
In The Canal Hearing Aids (ITC)
Completely In the Canal Hearing Aids (CIC)
Invisible In the Canal Hearing Aids (IIC)

For more of a summary of each type of hearing aid available and what each represents you can view more by click the link.

Author: Paul Harrison