There are estimates that more than ten percent of the world's population has some degree of hearing loss--that's more than six hundred million people.

Two further estimates are that of those six hundred million people, only twenty percent , or one hundred and twenty million, have hearing devices, and of those twenty percent, another twenty percent, or twenty-four million people, have put their hearing aids in a drawer and decided life is easier without them.

A 2002 study indicated that of those hearing-impaired people who actually took the time to be examined and fitted for hearing aids, 8.6% returned their hearing aids for a refund. Those people did care about their hearing loss, and did try to find a solution. What happened? Why are so many hearing aids either returned or tossed into drawers?

The Problem's In The Programming

The issue seems to be in the programming. Each hearing aid is programmed at a factory according to setting established by an audiologist during a client's hearing aid exam. The audiologist will base those settings on what the client says he or she is hearing; but the audiologist is not actually hearing what the client is hearing. There can be inaccuracies in a pre-programmed hearing aid, and self-programming hearing aids have only very recently become available.

Many of the hearing impaired have demanded a self-programming hearing aid for several years, and there is finally a self-programming hearing aid, the America Hears Freedom AD, to accommodate them.

Having a self-programming hearing aid means that a hearing- impaired person can dispense with setting aside time for follow-up visits to the audiologist, who has to try and fine-tune the hearing aid's adjustment once again based on what the client tells him ore her. Trying to survive in between appointments with a poorly adjusted hearing aid may be one reason why so many people just give up on the process.

How Self-Programming Works

While original programming of the America Hears Freedom AD hearing aids is set at their factory, America Hears self-programming hearing aids can be attached to a programmer, which is then connected to your computer. Software which you can install on your computer will allow you to re-create the testing you underwent at your audiologist's but because you have self-programming hearing aids you can now fine tune them yourself, in the privacy of your home and at your convenience.

The software includes a "Wizard" which will help you make the adjustments through its Help screens which walk you through a list of many common complaints which people have about their hearing aids, and then instruct you on the adjustments you need to make to eliminate those problems. You will perform incremental adjustments on the self-programming hearing aids, without having to understand their technical aspects.

Self-programming hearing aids may not be the answer for everyone; you have to be able to install the both software and programmer for your self-programming hearing aids. And they should not be an excuse for you to stop seeing your audiologist to check the sate of your hearing on a regular basis.