One of the Top 25 Innovations in the Past 25 Years. Digital hearing aids ranked along with the Internet, cell phones and portable computers as having had a dramatic impact on everyday life, according to a recently released report by Cable News Network. Like other innovations on CNN’s top 25 list, including air bags and ATMs, hearing aids have clearly demonstrated their value to people in all walks of life.

Twenty-five years ago, the variety among hearing aids was slight. They were bulky instruments and required users to manipulate dials and other controls and provided only basic amplification of sounds. Today with modern digital technology they afford a high degree customization and precision in hearing instrument fitting. The digital revolution has made possible small sleek devices that perform exquisite signal processing.

Since the early 1990s when digital technology in hearing instruments first emerged – computer technology has progressively improved, allowing hearing aids to mimic the brain’s ability to focus on speech patterns and minimize non-speech patterns. This restores the ability to cope with speech-in-noise that has been devastating to persons with sensorineural hearing loss.

It is appropriate to use the term, “Artificial Intelligence” in describing this circuitry. It functions very similar to the brain’s natural ability to automatically detect and optimize speech while turning down the volume on distracting sounds. The best of the modern devices continually scan the environment for voices and other sounds and reacts instantly to variations in sound signals, making thousands of calculations per second. They make life more pleasant for persons with hearing loss to cope with environments such as a busy street, social gathering or crowded restaurant.