What different kinds of hearing aids are there?

The type of hearing aid your audiologist recommends will depend on a few different factors, including your child’s level of hearing loss, the size and shape of their ear, and how comfortable they are using their hands to handle small devices. Personal preferences for how discrete the hearing aid should be will play a role.

Here are some of the most common options for hearing assistance devices:

• Behind-the-ear (BTE): a type of hearing aid that you wear on the outside and “behind” your ear; it works by taking any sound and amplifying it down a small tube to your ear canal

• Receiver-in-the-ear (RITE): similar to the BTE, the device sits behind the ear, and a thin wire goes into the ear canal

• In-the-ear (ITE): a custom-made device, almost like an earbud, that is placed in the ear and has a microphone that will amplify any sound; other versions of ITE include:

  • Invisible-in-canal (IIC)
  • Completely-in-canal (CIC)
  • In-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids
  • Full/half shell in-the-ear hearing aids

• Contralateral routing of signals (CROS)/bi-contralateral routing of signals (BiCROS): designed for individuals who have better or normal hearing in one ear and more significant hearing loss in the other, these hearing aids have microphones on both sides, but both carry the sound only to your ear with poor sound

• Cochlear implants are a type of hearing device, but unlike hearing aids, which can be removed and put on as needed, cochlear implants require a surgical procedure to be implanted. Instead of simply amplifying sounds, cochlear implants bypass the damaged parts of the ear and send signals directly to the auditory nerve, creating a new pathway for sound to reach the brain.

• BAHA and BAI devices are hearing systems that are also surgically placed behind the ear. Unlike cochlear implants, though, these devices don’t stimulate the hearing nerve directly. Instead, they use bone conduction (vibrations through the bones of the skull) to help your child access sound in a different way.

These tools aren’t meant to replace hearing aids or implants, but to give your child extra hearing support in specific situations:

• FM systems: These are wireless devices designed to help people with hearing aids or cochlear implants hear more clearly. For example, a teacher can wear a small microphone, and their voice is sent directly to your child’s hearing device.

• Infrared systems (aka hearing loop systems): These devices send sound wirelessly to a receiver your child wears — either with headphones or a neck-loop that connects to their hearing aid or cochlear implant.

• One-to-one communicators: These devices let someone, such as a teacher or parent, speak into a microphone, and the sound goes straight to your child’s hearing aid, cochlear implant, or headset.

• Personal amplifiers are about the size of a cell phone; these devices increase sound levels and reduce background noise for a listener. Some have directional microphones that can be angled toward a speaker or other source of sound.

For more information, see our full article Tech, Equipment, Apps, and More for Hearing Loss.