Many hearing-impaired patients feel that hearing aids are too expensive, or that they would be of little use. Here are some hearing aid facts to clear up the issue.

Hearing aids are no longer as expensive as they once were. There are many styles and types of hearing aids. A good doctor will help the hearing-impaired patient figure out which type is best for his or her hearing needs.

While not for everyone, hearing aids work for a wide variety of patients. They improve hearing ability and quality of life for their wearers, but they do not restore hearing loss completely. Their effectiveness will depend on the individual patient and the type of hearing loss that affects him or her.

To understand whether a hearing aid will be effective for a particular person, it is best to understand how a hearing aid works. There are four basic components: a battery, a microphone, an amplifier, and a receiver. The battery provides the power. The microphone catches sound from the environment, converts it to an electrical signal, and sends it to the amplifier. The amplifier raises the volume of the sound and sends it to the receiver, which then changes the signal back into a sound and sends it to the ear.

This process depends on inner ear hair cells, which must be present to pick up the vibrations send by the hearing aid. For the hearing-impaired person who has no hair cells in the inner ear, hearing aids will not work.