Article provided by www.consumer.org.nz

Assessment stage: this determines the type and magnitude of a person's hearing loss.

Needs assessment stage: where the person, their family and the audiologist review the findings of the assessment and identify areas of difficulty and need. The type of hearing aid depends on the severity and type of hearing loss and the problems the client is having with tolerance and background noise. There are three main levels of need:

Basic (low) needs: several varied listening situations on an irregular basis (small gatherings, church, business meetings).

Moderate needs: many and varied situations on a frequent basis (cafes, business meetings, crowded social events).

High needs: similar to moderate needs but the person is in difficult listening environments on a regular basis. Often they will need the most advanced digital signal processing to cope with changing sound environments. The circuitry can "read" the environment and attempt to help understand speech. May be recommended by an audiologist if the person is having difficulty with a simpler hearing aid.

• The client then selects the hearing aid.
• Verification stage: the aid is fitted and the audiologist ensures that it looks OK and is compensating for the client's hearing loss.
• Orientation stage: the client comes to terms with using their hearing aid, including its strengths and weaknesses.
• Validation stage: where the audiologist checks the aid is working as well as it can.

For more information on cheap hearing device, visit www.consumer.org.nz

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