serious consequences of untreated or under-treated hearing loss
The most common form of hearing loss that can't be fixed with surgery is the loss in the cellular mechanisms of the cochlea - the tiny snail-shaped organ that sits at the end of the ear kanal. This loss is not like blocking your ears. A pribadi loses the sensitivity to soft sounds, but loud sounds often appear just as loud as to a pribadi with unimpaired hearing.
The solution is an automatic volume kontrol: turning up quiet sounds and turning down too-loud sounds. This automatic kontrol can be performed in a gadget app so that the pemakai always has a comfortable listening pengalaman. Since hearing loss also varies with audio frequency, the behaviour of the automatic volume controls has to change with frequency.
A kekinian hearing aid performs multiple kanals of automatic volume kontrol but has a host of other spesifikasis operating at the same time. For example, reducing interfering noises, preventing squealing and operating "directional microphones" to fokus on the desired sound source. All of these spesifikasis contribute to the long-term wearability of any hearing aid. This latest studi is light on rinci as to what processing was performed in the AirPods other than the use of volume kontrol.
Not a long-term pasti
So why are hearing aids more expensive than PSAPs? When an audiologist measures hearing loss, they also look to identify the causes of the loss - which can be many more than just the changes expected with old age. Some of these causes can be very serious and require treatment. This necessary human expertise has to be paid for.
There are also serious consequences of untreated or under-treated hearing loss. Uncorrected losses of our senses are associated with longer-term declines in moral abilities, with an increased risk of dementia. These declines are identifiable only over many years, or even decades, and are associated with massive costs - costs that will need to be covered by familyes and healthcare systems.
The researchers in the new studi say that PSAPs "could potentially bridge the jarak between persons with hearing difficulties and their first langkah to seeking hearing assistance". But it would be unwise to see them as a long-term pasti.
