I received an enquiry this week about wind noise cancellation in hearing aids. I thought my short response to this enquiry might help you as we have summer ahead of us and you might be looking for a pair of new hearing aids with good wind noise cancellation.
Note: This topic is best read in conjunction with the other article, The best hearing aids for golfers.
Patient: I already have hearing aids but get a lot of wind noise so I want something good in the wind or noisy situations but still have good hearing quality.
Audiologist: Hello A***, thanks for your enquiry. In your email, you mentioned two points:
Wind noise - The pinna (the visible part of the ear) does a good job cancelling the wind noise for humans, so any in-the-ear hearing aid especially IIC and CIC hearing aids would be the best option for minimizing the wind noise. The IIC and CIC should be able to cover hearing loss from mild to moderate to moderately severe. Also, it would be best if you had a medium to large size ear canal to be able to use IIC and CIC hearing aids comfortably.
Hearing quality - Good hearing quality of a hearing aid especially in understanding speech in a noisy environment depends on 3 factors, a. the level and profile of your hearing loss, b. the hearing aid technology, and c. the skill of the audiologist in tuning the aids for you and your patient to continue seeing your audiologist to get the device set up to its ultimate performance capability. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Patient: Are in-the-canal hearing aids better for wind noise cancellation than RIC and behind-the-ear hearing aids?
Audiologist: Yes, as explained above, the in-the-ear and in-the-canal hearing aids are closer to the natural acoustics of the human auditory system hence they are better at not picking up the wind noise compared to the behind-the-ear and receiver-in-canal hearing aids.
Patient: Is the ability of in-the-canal hearing aids to reduce wind noise the same in all models and technology levels?
Audiologist: The general rule is that all IIC hearing aids do a better job compared to CIC and CIC hearing aids do a better job in wind noise cancellation compared to ITC and ITE hearing aids. But the technology level of the hearing aids can also play a role in how well they can detect and control wind noise if that happens to be the case.
For example, the below table is a technology comparison of Signia SILK IX CIC hearing aids. As you can see eWindScreen is the algorithm that Signia SILK IX and Rexton Reach inoX CIC use to monitor and control the wind noise. The top-tier technology of 7IX and 5IX offers a better level of wind noise control than the entry-level technology of 3IX.
Table 1 - eWindScreen technology in Signia Silk and Rexton Reach hearing aids
The hearing aids behind the ear by design have problems with wind noise even the most advanced ones. The RIC, BTE and miniRITE all try to suppress the wind noise through sound processing that unfortunately removes some of the sound quality. Please refer to another article about wind noise cancellation in hearing aids.
Patient: I have a pair of hearing aids, can I pop into your clinic to improve their ability to reduce wind noise?
Audiologist: Yes, for sure. Most of the premium hearing aids allow some degree of adjustment that can be done by the audiologist. If you already have a pair of hearing aids that you are not happy with their ability to reduce the wind noise best to try visiting your audiologist to see if there is anything that can be done to set them up for a more aggressive wind noise reduction before you think of a new set of hearing aids. Often this adjustment can be done through a telecare consultation.
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