CELTIC HEARING - HEARING AIDS

A COMPLETE RANGE OF STYLES ARE AVAILABLE

Do you struggle to hear in background noise ? If you miss parts of conversation in a Supermarket, at a Restaurant or even on the Television you may have a hearing loss. Try our on-line hearing questionnaire.

If you have difficulties hearing young children, people with soft voices or unusual accents a hearing test will identify whether or not you have a loss.

Sensorineural or Hair-Cell Hearing-Loss is very common, affecting as many as two in five people over fifty. The condition is known as Presbyacusis. It arises from degradation of the nerve hairs that pick-up sounds in your cochlea. The condition can worsen with age, exposure to noise and certain toxic substances.

Conductive Hearing-Losses result from a breakdown in the links that transport sound from outside the head to the Cochlea. Wax blockage can give rise to a mild conductive loss.

OPEN FITTINGS

At Celtic Hearing we specialise in open fittings, which attempt to bring clarity to your hearing without the undesirable effects of a traditional hearing aid. Specifically we aim to:
  • IMPROVE SPEECH CLARITY
  • REMOVE THE OCCLUSION EFFECT – The nasty sensation of having your ears blocked that makes your speech sound hollow or nasal.
  • AMPLIFY THE SOUNDS THAT WILL HELP YOUR SPEECH UNDERSTANDING.
  • LET THE BRAIN DECIDE WHAT IS A NOISE AND WHAT YOU NEED TO HEAR.
  • PROVIDE A DISCRETE, COSMETICALLY ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION.

HEARING AID TYPES

As a starting point, there are two basic types of hearing aids that come in many different styles:

IN-THE-EAR (ITE) HEARING AIDS

ITE aids—sometimes referred to as “invisible hearing aids”—are worn in the ear canal and are usually custom-fit, based on an impression that is taken by your hearing care professional at the time of your hearing aid consultation. These styles are typically available in different skin tones to blend with the outer ear. Some types of ITE hearing aids fit very deeply within the ear canal, while others are closer to the outer ear.

IIC and CIC styles are the smallest and most discreet hearing aids available. “Invisible in the canal” IIC styles are as described—virtually invisible. A wearer places them very deeply in the ears, and they must be removed by tugging on a small pull-out string.

BEHIND-THE-EAR (BTE) HEARING AIDS

The more popular option, BTE aids sit behind or on top of the outer ear with tubing that routes the sound down into the ear canal via a custom-fit earmold or a dome style that doesn’t block the entire ear canal opening.

One of the most popular hearing aids styles are what’s known as either “receiver in the ear” (RITE) or “receiver in canal” (RIC), depending on the manufacturer. But they essentially mean the same thing—an open-fit hearing aid style that has the speaker built into an insertable ear dome, instead of the main body of the hearing aid. In other words, the speaker of the hearing aid rests in the ear canal, but the microphone and processor sit in a tiny case behind the ear. They are connected by a thin wire. This style of hearing aid tends to have above-average sound quality and is made by all major hearing aid manufacturers.