Custom hearing aids have a lot of benefits; because they’re tailored to your ear and your particular degree of hearing loss, they can be a much more efficient solution than cheaper hearing aids.

But how are custom hearing aids designed?

They begin with an impression of your ear. These impressions are custom-made by a hearing aid professional in her office and can be done in as quickly as 10 minutes. The hearing specialist places a foam or cotton barrier in the ear to protect the sensitive eardrum, then fills the ear canal with a waxy material. In 5-10 minutes, the wax hardens and the impression can be removed.

This impression is then used to design a hearing aid that fits perfectly into your ear canal. These custom hearing aids aren’t only more comfortable and fashionable, they can also provide much better sound amplification. Custom hearing aids are available are available as In-The –Ear hearing aids, In-The-Canal hearing aids and Completely-In-The-Canal hearing aids, the last of which is virtually invisible.

Having your hearing aid fit to your particular ear might be the right choice for you; consult an audiologist or a hearing instrument professional to determine if that’s the case.

1. The Hammer aka the Malleus- this is where the vibrations are first passed through the middle ear. It articulates with the eardrum (tympanic membrane) and the incus–the next of the ossicles (remember, they are all connected together). This is their first step of the hearing process.

2. The Anvil aka the Incus- the vibrations caused by the hammer cause the anvil to be pushed against and in turn it pushes the next of the ossicles. This is the second part of the hearing process for the ossicles.

3. The Stirrup aka the Stapes- This is the last of the hearing process. The final of the three bones to receive the push of the vibrations. The stirrup is connected directly to the oval window–the gateway to the nerves for hearing. It is where the transmission of the vibration is sent to the cochlea and then to the nerves where it will be interpreted not just as vibrations but as sounds.

Basically put, these three tiny bones are the monitors to how we hear. If they become damaged, they can be fixed through a stapedectomy (we will discuss this soon). If it were not for how these bones are formed–the possibility the ability to hear would not exist and the evolution of the hearing process would have been very different. The ossicles may be tiny, but are important nonetheless–any small problem can cause severe hearing loss. If your hearing loss specialist sees that there is a problem with the auditory ossicles, then they will recommend an ENT to help combat the hearing loss with the stapedectomy.