Behind-the-ear hearing aids

Behind-the-ear hearing aids These hearing aids sit behind the ear. The sound comes through a wire, thin tube or tube that runs over the top of your ear and into your ear canal.

Behind-the-ear hearing aids are the most common type of hearing device.

What is it like to have behind-the-ear hearing aids?

Modern behind-the-ear hearing aids are very small. They are so light and discreet that they’re almost unnoticeable.

When people get hearing aids, they start noticing sounds that they haven’t heard before. They also feel less tired and become more active.

Most behind-the-ear hearing aids have a button to control them with.

You use this to adjust the volume and select different programs. Programs are to help you hear well in different situations. Although most noise control is automated, it can help to have a special program for when you are in very noisy places, or when you watch TV. Programs are set by your hearing care professional when you have your hearing aids fitted.

To turn on or off hearing aids that sit behind the ear, you typically open the battery drawer, which disconnects the power.

Rechargeable hearing aids don’t need to be turned off. You simply put them in their charger at night.

For the behind-the-ear hearing aids with Bluetooth, you can control the hearing aids using a hearing aid app for iPhone and other smartphones.
See Oticon's best behind-the-ear hearing aids

Behind-the-ear hearing aid review

When Clare got behind-the-ear hearing aids, they changed her life.

What kinds of behind-the-ear hearing aids are there?

It can be confusing to find which hearing aid is best for you, but don’t worry. It is very simple once you understand the basics. Here they are.

Receiver-In-The-Ear (RITE) is a behind-the-ear hearing aid style which has a small speaker at the end of the wire that goes inside your ear. These are a very common type of hearing aids, and are also known as Receiver-In-Canal hearing aids.

Advantages include better aesthetics than traditional behind-the-ear hearing aids, and a lower risk of whistling or squealing caused by feedback.

This is because RITE hearing aids don’t need to house the loudspeaker inside the plastic casing, which can therefore be smaller. They can also give a more natural sound quality, and a more comfortable fit.

RITEs are available for mild, moderate, and severe-to-profound hearing loss.

We offer rechargeable hearing aids in the miniRITE style for both adults and children.
Traditional behind-the-ear hearing aids are also called BTE hearing aids. The speaker is inside the plastic body of the hearing aid, from where the sound is carried to the ear through a hollow tube.

In the past, almost all hearing aids were behind-the-ear hearing aids.

However, the miniaturization of technology means that most people can have smaller receiver-in-the-ear hearing aids.

Slightly larger BTEs have a larger battery and can accommodate a larger amplifier, which can make them suitable for people whose hearing loss requires a more powerful device. Most BTEs have a double push-button for easy volume and program adjustment, which also suits people with dexterity issues.

These days, most people can have smaller and more discreet receiver-in-the-ear hearing aids.

Which kind of hearing aid do I need?

Our hearing aids are behind-the-ear hearing aids or in-the-ear hearing aids.

To choose the best type of hearing aid for you, try our quick and easy guide here.

Start our quick guide

Where to buy hearing aids?

The best behind-the-ear hearing aids are only available through an audiologist. An audiologist is a hearing care professional. They are trained to test your hearing and fit you with the right kind of hearing aids.

We wish we could help more, but unfortunately, it’s very hard to give you a hearing aid price.

This is because the cost of your hearing aids will depend on many things that we don’t control.

Many people can get their hearing aid costs paid for through their health insurance or through another agency. Some people can get part of the price of their hearing aids paid for.

The best way to find out if you are eligible for financial assistance is to ask a hearing care professional or audiologist.
Ask your hearing care professional

The technology inside behind-the-ear hearing aids

The best behind-the-ear hearing aids are digital hearing aids, with a minicomputer to process the sound.

Unlike some over-the-counter hearing aids, Oticon hearing aids don’t just amplify all of the sound. First, they reduce the noise – and only then do they send high-quality sound to your ears.

See Oticon’s behind-the-ear hearing aids
Good sound quality requires good noise control. This ability often distinguishes the best hearing aids. This is especially the case when lots of people are talking. More affordable hearing aids try to control noise as well, but the best hearing aids are much better at it, which makes your life easier in many ways.
Noise control is one of the main things that separates quality hearing aids from inferior ones.

Good quality hearing aids scan the sound environment many times every second, so they can reduce the noise before it reaches your ears.

Meanwhile, some over-the-counter hearing aids simply amplify all of the sound. These types include personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) and personal sound amplifiers.

You should always have hearing aids fitted by a hearing care professional.

Cheap hearing aids that do perform some noise control tend to do it poorly – compared to premium quality hearing aids – so your brain can become overwhelmed with noisy sound that is harder to understand.

Without effective noise reduction, this can leave you feeling more tired, because it requires more effort.

What is more, some cheaper hearing aids deal with noise by simply cutting out the sound around you. This gives you ‘tunnel hearing’ that forces you to focus straight ahead. It then requires more effort to hear different people talking, making it more tiring for you to have conversations.

In contrast, Oticon’s BrainHearing™ technology has been developed to give your brain ideal conditions in which to naturally perform.
Hearing aids whistling used to be a common problem. It is caused by feedback, when the sound coming out of a hearing aid is picked up by the hearing aid’s own microphones.

Hearing aid feedback typically occur in cheap hearing aids when something comes close to your ear, such as your hand or another person. This often happens during hugs and phone calls.

Oticon’s best hearing aids have made hearing aid feedback a thing of the past, with new technology that prevents feedback from happening.
If you have two digital hearing aids, they will communicate with each other wirelessly, to give you a more realistic sound picture.

Bluetooth hearing aids

Behind-the-ear hearing aids can be Bluetooth hearing aids. This means they can connect to other devices wirelessly.

You can stream sound into your hearing aids from your TV, use your hearing aids to make phone calls, and much more.

See Oticon’s Bluetooth hearing aids

Rechargeable hearing aid batteries

Some behind-the-ear hearing aids give you the option of rechargeable batteries.

A rechargeable hearing aid means you don’t have to change the batteries every week or so. You simply put your hearing aids in their charger at night and wake up to full power for the day.
See Oticon’s rechargeable hearing aids

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