Best Hearing Aid Apps for Your Smartphone

For many of us, hearing loss is a part of life. Whether we have a hearing loss that is mild and barely noticeable or more severe and impacting your day-to-day activities, the realities of living with hearing loss are something that we have become accustomed to. On average, around 48 million people in the US alone are affected by hearing loss. It affects one in three people between the ages of 65-74 and almost half of all people aged 75 or over. But just because you experience hearing loss does not mean that can’t mitigate the effects it has on your day to day life.

Indeed, in the age of the smartphone, it’s easier than ever to take control of your hearing and minimize its impact on your life and conversation with the wealth of companion apps on the iOS and Android app stores. If you have been recommended a new hearing aid by a hearing instrument specialist (HIS), they may also be able to recommend apps that can help you to maximize your hearing aid experience.

How can these apps help?

If you use a hearing aid, it’s likely already an invaluable tool in helping you to live life to the fullest despite any issues you may have with your hearing. A smartphone app can improve your hearing aid experience by;

• Allowing you to stream music and other content directly to your hearing aid
• Improving call clarity by streaming straight to your hearing aid rather than your phone’s speaker
• Allowing you directional microphone control
• Allowing you to cycle seamlessly between stored programs for better listening in different conditions
• Helping you to check on your battery status so that you’re never without your hearing aid when you need it.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best hearing aid apps for your smartphone:

Trulink Hearing Control

iPhone users are sure to find the TruLink app extremely useful as it offers a wealth of features and is compatible with a range of devices from various different manufacturers. As well as being able to adjust volume treble and bass discreetly via the app, it also enables users to:

• Stream calls and music directly to your hearing aid
• Find your hearing aid when you lose it (an absolute Godsend)
• Get your text messages, and emails read to you directly to your hearing aid by Siri
• Save and access multiple program settings (described by the app as ‘memories’)
• Use geotagging

One of the great things about the TruLink Hearing Control app is that not only can you store settings for optimal hearing in different conditions, but it also switches between programs automatically when those conditions are met. So you don’t need to manually change settings when heading from a quiet street into a loud store, bar or cafe.

Petralex

Ever wish you could tailor the audio output of your phone or tablet rather to your unique hearing needs rather than simply turning the volume up on everything? With the Pertralex app, you can do exactly that.

Once installed, the app gives you a quick hearing test, not dissimilar to the kind of test you’d do in a hearing instrument specialist’s office. The app is then able to adapt your device’s output to the personal hearing characteristics of each user, amplifying sound in all the right places to compensate for the loss of specific frequencies.

Petralex does not work directly with hearing aids, but it does allow your phone to function in a similar way to a hearing aid. This can be a very useful temporary measure while you wait for an appointment with a specialist.

Mobile ears

Without a hearing aid, smartphone users often find that they need to use headphones to make music, video, podcasts, and of course, phone calls audible. However, because the phone’s output isn’t tailored to their hearing needs, their only recourse is to turn the volume way up. But this results in something of a Catch-22 as listening to headphones at high volume can actually cause more damage to hearing.

Mobile ears is an app that helps to aid voice clarity when making calls and listening to content through earphones, amplifying only the frequencies that improve clarity to avoid hearing damage.

How a hearing instrument specialist can help

A hearing instrument specialist can not only help by recommending the right device for your needs and calibrating it to complement your hearing loss, but they can also recommend a wealth of generic and manufacturer-specific apps to ensure that you always get the most out of your device.

If you’d like to know more about what we can do for you at AA Hearing Aid Center Inc., call us today at 203-348-2271.