Hearing Aids are typically comprised of four to six components: the receiver, the tubing when it’s needed, the microphone, the computer, the amplifier, and a retrieval piece if it’s an ITC or CIC model.
The components of a hearing aid mimic the canal and inner ear of the human ear. The first major component, the microphone, picks up sound and converts it into electrical signals, often amplified and filtered for necessity by the next major component, the amplifier. From there, the sounds trickle down through the micro-computer within the hearing aid’s housing and are converted by the receiver into acoustic sounds.
The sounds might have to travel through small plastic tubes to reach the receiver, which is placed just inside the ear if the hearing aid is a BTE model. ITE, ITC, and CIC models vary, but a majority of them do not require the additional tubing.
As for CIC and ITC hearing aids, both of these fit within the ear’s canal. A very small retrieval rod is attached to these two types of hearing aids so the wearer doesn’t have to worry about them getting stuck in the canal or just not able to get them out when they want to. These extra attachments are rather delicate, so the owner has to be really careful when caring for these hearing aids.
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