Hearing Aid Types

This section of the hearservice website features valuable hearing loss information designed to assist you in managing and preventing hearing loss.

Hearing aids are available in a range of shapes and sizes to suit individual needs and hearing losses.

• The behind-the ear hearing aid can be successfully fitted to a very wide range of hearing losses.  It consists of an ear mould that fits into the ear and is connected to a small plastic casing containing the electronic components.  The casing sits behind the ear.
• Receiver in the ear hearing aid: is comprised of a Receiver encased in a shell that sits within the canal and is joined to the behind the ear hearing aid via a wire within a slim tuve. This allows the 'BTE' hearing aid to become significantly smaller in size and providing cosmetic  appeal through the thin, near invisible tube.
• The in-the-ear hearing aid consists of an acrylic shell that contains all the electronic components.  It sits in the outer ear and ear canal.
• The in-the-canal hearing aid is a smaller version of the in-the-ear hearing aid. This aid sits in the ear canal and extends partly into the outer ear.
• The completely-in-the-canal hearing aid sits completely and deeply in the ear canal and once in place, is only just visible when viewed from side-on.  As it is smaller, it cannot accommodate some of the features available in the bigger aids such as a volume control.  It usually has a little line attached for ease of removal.
• The CROS hearing aid can be helpful if you have poorer hearing in one ear. It consists of a microphone worn on the poorer hearing ear, which picks up sound and feeds it to a hearing aid worn on the better hearing ear.
• The bone conduction hearing aid transfers sound into the ear via a vibrating device worn on the bone behind the ear. The vibrating device is usually held in place with a headband. This can be useful for those with chronically discharging ears or malformation of the ear canal.