Hearing aids have come a long way since the stereotypical image of Grandpa holding a funnel against his ear.
Some models are so tiny that they can fit in the ear and go virtually unnoticed.
Yet corrective earwear, unlike eyewear, carries such a stigma that some people with hearing problems would rather go through life missing sounds rather that deigning to use an aid. Hearing impairments may not be as commonplace as vision problems, but they're hardly rare, either. 95 percent of all hearing impairments result from erosion of hair cells in the inner ear. These hair cells, which transmit sound to the brain, most often wear down due to aging and exposure to loud noise. Once they're gone, they don't grow back.