14. What are digitally programmable hearing aids?
Some of the characteristics of the sound produced by hearing aids can be modified using computers or other devices. Hearing aids that have this capability are called "digitally programmable."

1. Flexibility: changes in hearing can easily be accommodated, as can unusually shaped and fluctuating hearing losses.

2. Multiple Programs: It is often useful to be able to change the hearing aid characteristics depending on the environment one encounters. With these hearing aids, you can change program with the touch of a button or a remote control.

3. Advanced Compression Circuitry: Most hearing impaired people suffer from an abnormally rapid growth in loudness perception. This is why some hearing aid users complain that they can't hear soft sounds, but when sounds are made just a little louder, they are much too loud for comfort. Therefore hearing aids are designed so that they will amplify soft sounds more than they will amplify loud sounds. This is called compression. Compression works almost like an invisible finger reaching up and changing the volume control so that soft sounds are made loud enough to hear and loud sounds are turned down so that they don't become uncomfortable.