Hearing aids, as with many other devices, are getting smarter, more inconspicuous and more stylish all the time, and just in time. The average American is older, reports The Us Census Department, as the population as a whole ages, and unfortunately, hearing loss, especially in older people, is very common. About 37.5 million American adults say they have some amount of hearing loss, and these numbers are going up.
Fortunately hearing technology has had some thrilling developments recently that will provide more solutions for treating hearing loss. Here are just a few of the enhancements coming our way.
Hearing Aids That Track Your Overall Health
Did you know that hearing aids can keep track of several key vital signs as well or better than a fitness tracker? Not only can it track the time between heartbeats to help find potential cardiovascular problems, but it also monitors calories burned, heart rate, step count, and the total number of steps taken. They are even developing technology that can measure blood pressure, oxygenation of the blood and other important vital signs. Hearing aids also often have other pluses, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will enhance your social life by helping your overall hearing. Actually, social interaction has been connected to your general health also, so actually it’s another health statistic we should be following. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your music, who needs a smartwatch or fitness device?
Smarter and Simpler Streaming
Being connected to your virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa is becoming more important as people get more attached to these features. Even if you resist the allure of talking directly to these assistants, hearing aids with Bluetooth provide key advantages including streaming music directly from a smart device like your phone or maybe even streaming directly from your smart TV. Imagine the benefits of this: You can steer clear of getting yelled at for having the Volume too loud while watching this year’s Big Game in a room full of loud friends. You will be capable of managing your loss of hearing more discreetly and also enjoy your shows, phone calls, and music more by having them directly in your ears.
Automatic Adjustments
Ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what type of book you’d like to read? Or how all your favorite kinds of items get promoted to you by Amazon? This is the power of artificial intelligence and big data. Modern hearing aids can also make adjustments automatically according to your responses in the past. For example, if you turned down the volume the last time you visited the train station, your hearing aid will remember that and turn itself down the next time you visit the train station. They are also starting to network your hearing aids with other devices that belong to people near you in order to alert you of a possible loud noise danger nearby. Over time you will be able to quickly adjust to changes in the hearing environment because your hearing aid will make recommendations based on all the information it has collected.
What? No More Little 312 Batteries?
Who wants to continuously wrestle with hearing aid batteries? You can now get rechargeable hearing aids. Even though you can do a lot to help increase the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, let’s be honest…it’s still frustrating and costly. Even better, they are working on technology to recharge hearing aids without even needing to take them out of your ears.