Hearing Aids

Hearing loss is a disorder that can have drastic effects on an individual, both in private and socially. However, with successful treatment, patients can experience not only better hearing and a clearer understanding of speech, but an enhanced quality of life as well. According to the Better Hearing Institute, patients receiving treatment with hearing aids and other hearing loss devices, including assistive listening devices, can show improvement in their interpersonal relationships and social lives; reductions in frustration, anger, anxiety, and fatigue; and even, in some cases, greater earning power. At Red Hat Audiology, we are dedicated to improving lives by providing quality hearing aids to patients from Silver Spring, Olney, Rockville and other surrounding Maryland areas.

• Exceptional Hearing Aids
• Analog vs. Digital Hearing Aids
• Adjusting to Your New Hearing Aids
• Are two hearing aids better than one?

Exceptional Hearing Aids

Whether you are looking for analog or digital devices, we provide state-of-the-art hearing aids at the Red Hat Audiology which serves patients from Silver Spring, Wheaton, Rockville, Olney and Bethesda. We carry hearing aids from top brands, including:

• Oticon®
• Siemens®
• Widex®
• GN ReSound®
• Phonak®
• Starkey®

If we do not have the products of the particular hearing aid manufacturer or brand that you are looking for at our practice, we can order them straight from the manufacturer for you. We also offer a 45-day trial period and special discounts and financing options on all hearing aids.

Oticon® Agil

Three unique features work together to make Agil one of the most advanced hearing devices on the market today.
• Spatial Sound 2.0 — This technology supports the brain’s natural process of understanding speech. For example, when you enter a crowded room, Agil picks up on certain cues that allow you to hear and understand what’s going on. Thanks to spatial noise management, you will never be bombarded with a “wall of sound.” Instead, you’ll be able to hear the voices that are speaking to you, and shift attention to other voices as you choose.
• Speech Guard — Only Agil offers the ability to follow conversations so naturally and immediately. The device is designed to recognize natural speech cues, and keep competing noise or voices from distracting you, giving you a sense of quiet clarity. The process is simple and leaves you with more energy to listen, understand and act upon what is being heard.
• Connect Plus — Enjoy music like never before when you stream through any Bluetooth™ device. Enhanced Music Widening improves the quality of sound you hear, much like an equalizer on a stereo. And our improved Power Bass feature lets you hear the full breadth and range of music selections. Contact audiologist Gwyneth Newcomb to learn more about the hearing aid's benefits and features.

Oticon® ConnectLINE

ConnectLine has been engineered to work as a complete system. That means it’s easy-to-operate and seamlessly integrated. The TV and phone solutions work perfectly together or as separate, stand alone connections, depending on the user's needs.

Whether the user has one or many connections, the result is the same. By sending sound directly to the client’s hearing instruments, audibility is significantly improved. It's much like FM and T-coil, only more flexible, easier to use and less expensive.

Starkey® S Series iQ™

Hearing comfortably in noise has been one of the biggest problems for people who wear hearing aids. The iQ is designed to hold speech volume up and push background noise down, meaning you hear more of what you want to hear, like conversations and less of what you don’t, like wind and noise.

Starkey®  OtoLens™

100% invisible, 100% amazing

Think hearing aids should be heard, not seen? OtoLens, Starkey’s new invisible-in-the-canal (IIC) hearing aid, might just be your answer. OtoLens is the only custom fit IIC. It’s both completely invisible and packed with Starkey’s industry-leading technology, including the world’s best feedback canceller and the smartest noise reduction and speech preservation system ever developed.

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Analog vs. Digital Hearing Aids

A number of remarkable developments in hearing aid technology and its ability to clarify speech and reduce background noise have come to fruition in the past few years. Our audiology team is proud to feature the most advanced hearing aids as it strives to help patients experience the beauty of sound once more. Since different hearing aids work better for different people, we provide a wide selection of both analog and digital hearing aids to assist our patients from the Bowie, Greenbelt, Annapolis, and Silver Spring, Maryland areas.

Analog Hearing Aids

Analog hearing aids are the least expensive type of hearing aids. They amplify all sounds equally for better hearing, but they cannot differentiate between speech and noise, which can make it harder for you to understand the people around you. Also, extremely loud or soft sounds may force wearers to adjust the volume on analog hearing aids frequently, although some of them can be programmed for different environments to give patients the best ability to hear the sounds around them. Analog hearing aids are best for patients who communicate in relatively quiet situations.

Digital Hearing Aids

The latest technological advancements in hearing aids are digital. Digital hearing aids have revolutionized the way people with hearing loss hear sound. Far superior to their analog counterparts, digital hearing aids contain microchips that convert sound into digital code and then distinguish between speech and noise. Through this process, digital hearing aids suppress background noise to allow patients to hear and understand speech better. The resulting sound is more finely tuned to the severity of the wearer's hearing loss. Digital hearing aids can also be programmed for different environments to enable the best hearing. Digital hearing aids can be worn by almost everyone and are the preferred type of hearing aid technology. According to the Better Hearing Institute, 90 percent of all hearing aids sold are digital. 

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Adjusting to Your New Hearing Aid

Although hearing improves significantly the moment an aid is put in the ear, adjusting to hearing aids can be a gradual process. Patients should notice a difference in hearing within minutes of inserting the aid. This sudden change happens because hearing loss occurs gradually over time, making it harder to notice the difference, while the sounds that a hearing aid amplifies are reintroduced to the brain much more suddenly. Patients may find that their own voices sound too loud, but most people get used to the new volume over time. In the past, patients may have experienced a whistling sound called feedback. With today's technology, however, feedback is virtually eliminated. Patients will also have to become re-accustomed to various sounds that they have lost the ability to hear over time. Realizing the full benefits of your new hearing aids can take as long as several months of adjustment.

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Are Two Hearing Aids Better Than One?

Two hearing aids are always better than one if the hearing loss is essentially symmetric. Worn together, the hearing aids will not make sound twice as loud, but instead they will restore stereophonic hearing, which makes conversational speech twice as clear, especially when background noise is present. The brain needs input from both ears in order to separate speech from unwanted noise. Wearing two hearing aids also allows the wearer to localize sounds better. Finally, wearing two hearing aids prevents a condition known as auditory deprivation in which the brain gradually loses some ability to process information from the unaided ear due to lack of sound stimulation.

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