Most of us have heard it. That shrill whistle from a hearing aid if you get too close or as you take the hearing aid out. We have all experienced sitting near someone in public who seems to be unaware that they are “squealing”. That noise has a name and it is called “feedback”. If you have ever been to a concert or a presentation where a person is using a microphone and a loud “screech” is heard, that is feedback on a larger scale. What is happening is the microphone is “hearing” the sound coming out of the speaker. In a hearing aid, the speaker is typically in a person’s ear and the microphone is on the outside of the ear. If the sound from the speaker is “leaking” out of the ear too much, the microphone will turn up the amplified sound and create an acoustic “loop”, which we hear as a high pitch whistle sound. It’s just a fact that the louder the volume of the hearing aid, the more there is risk of feedback.
Nice subject Amy. Feedback can be so prevalent and the solutions are easy to help those with whistling hearing aids.
Great information and easy to understand, thank you Amy!
Thanks for commenting Gail!
Nice blog. Thank you Dr Amy.
Joanne,
I agree it was a nice blog.