Introduction to Hearing Aids

This chapter describes the background to the volume and introduces the range of disciplines that are involved in the development and evaluation of hearing aids. It then describes some basic aspects of hearing aids, such as the different styles of hearing aids and requirements for batteries. The chapter then gives an overview and brief summary of the remaining chapters in the volume, describing the components that are used in hearing aids; the needs of users; the signal processing that is used in hearing aids for listening to speech, music, and environmental sounds; wireless accessories and wireless communication between hearing aids; the fitting of hearing aids; the benefits of bilateral fittings; the verification of fittings; and evaluation of effectiveness.

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