Unlike hearing aids of 15-20 years ago, today’s hearing aids are no longer analog but process sound digitally with very sophisticated computer-chip technology. If you have friends who have their hearing aids in a drawer, they are probably analog. Today’s hearing aids are “SMART.” They can read the environment and determine if you’re in noise or in quiet, if the signal is speech or noise, if noise is in front or in back of you, and whether the sound is soft or loud. The aids then take that information and process it in a way that reduces background noise significantly while enhancing speech signals.
