Patent ID: 7369671

Claim:
A hearing aid, comprising: an input system; an output system; a programmable, signal processing system electrically connecting the input system to the output system; a magnetic field sensor; and a selection circuit connected to the magnetic field sensor, the selection circuit structured to control at least one of the input system, output system and the signal processing system, wherein the selection circuit and the magnetic field sensor are configured to determine three different magnetic field strengths such that each one of the three different magnetic field strengths corresponds to a different one of the input system, the output system, and the signal processing system and to select one of the input system, output system and the signal processing system based on a determination that a magnetic field sensed at the magnetic field sensor has one of the three different magnetic field strengths, the three different magnetic field strengths being in a range greater than or equal to a minimum magnetic field strength detectable by the magnetic field sensor.