Hearing aids have generally been made with either analog or digital technology. However, analog hearing aids are significantly less popular in today’s market, and few major brands still offer them.
The main difference between analog and digital hearing aids comes down to how they process audio:
Digital hearing aids analyze incoming sound waves before deciding how to amplify them.
Analog hearing aids amplify all sounds in the environment — both voices and unwanted noise — without being analyzed or filtered.
That means digital hearing aids can separate voices from unwanted noise and make smart decisions on what to amplify and what to minimize. This process reduces distracting background noise, like restaurant chatter, and high-frequency white noise, like the hiss of an air conditioning unit.
For more information, check out our article on how hearing aids work.