How can FM systems help hearing aids perform even better?
Sometimes even with the most sophisticated hearing aids it may be difficult to understand speech in challenging acoustic situations. Patients who experience difficulty understanding speech in noisy situations or at a distance, and wish to achieve even greater benefit than they get from their hearing aids alone, may find personal FM systems useful. In the simplest FM system the speaker’s voice is picked up by a microphone in a transmitter and sent to a receiver worn by the user which relays the signal wirelessly to the hearing aid. It is as if the listener is close to the source of the sound! This type of system utilizes the “T” (telecoil) setting on the hearing instrument. Other systems are available for active people who want to benefit from more complex technology including Bluetooth for mobile phone access, choice of microphone settings to select the focus of reception, etc. These systems may use tiny receivers that input the signal directly to the hearing aid. As always, we do our
