Prescription Hearing Aids

BTE hearing aids are the largest and most powerful instruments available, because they have more circuit options capable of producing more power and performance than other custom fit units. The technology for BTEs is contained in a casing that sits on the back of your ear and connects to the ear canal using nearly invisible plastic tubing. This tubing carries amplified sounds to an earmold made by making an ear impression of your ear to create a component that perfectly replicates your ear’s size and shape.

An Open Fit, or Mini-BTE, sits behind your ear, like larger BTE’s, but is much smaller and more discrete. In place of an earmold, the mini’s receiver transmits sound to an open earbud that rests deep inside your ear canal where it can’t be seen. The earpiece comes in preformed dome arrangements or can be custom formed. Individuals with a mild to moderate high-frequency hearing loss are a good fit for Mini BTEs, which come in plenty of color options, including skin tone matching.

Many wearers who wear glasses or receive supplemental oxygen through a cannula prefer ITE instruments, which eliminate the casing placed behind the ear. A custom-formed plastic shell housing the instrument’s technology fits in the outer opening of your ear canal. You can get ITE devices in various sizes to fit the larger outer ear or further into the opening.

Fitting further into the ear, ITC devices are molded for deeper insertion without filling up as much of the space in the outer portion of the ear. although more discrete, their use requires fine dexterity in order to adjust volume control wheels and other controls, which are integrated into a very small area.