How do hearing aids work? Are they just blasting what they hear directly into the ear potentially causing more damage?

Question

How do hearing aids work? Are they just blasting what they hear directly into the ear potentially causing more damage?

In: Biology

Answer 1

There are different types of hearing aid, because different parts of the ear could be damaged or defective.

If you look at [the diagram](https://www.bksv.com/-/media/Images/Waves/2018/01_Anatomy-of-the-human-ear/Anatomy-of-the-human-ear_01.ashx?h=552&w=875&la=en&hash=CA79680318C10B80E2A4343E8BEA13934C861455), the eardrum vibrates with the sounds in air, but that vibration is transmitted via bones to the cochlea, which is a chamber filled with liquid and soft hairs that are attached to nerves.

So if every piece of the ear anatomy is “ok”, then the hearing aid can just amplify the sounds so they vibrate the eardrum a bit harder.

Otherwise, an implanted type of hearing aid could pick up the sounds via a microphone, and apply the vibration directly to the bones (if the eardrum is ruptured). Or, with a [cochlear implant](https://cdn.prod-carehubs.net/n1/802899ec472ea3d8/uploads/2016/10/a-medical-illustration-of-a-cochlear-implant-original.jpg), the sounds picked up by the electronics are applied directly into the liquid environment inside the cochlea, bypassing the eardrum and the bones completely.