Your hearing healthcare professional is a great resource for most of your hearing-related questions, but check here first for the answers to many commonly asked ones.

Hearing aids don’t result in completely normal hearing. Even though they make sounds louder, the louder sounds are still sent to damaged hair cells in the cochlea. Fitting a hearing aid to a sensorineural hearing loss with damaged hair cells is like fitting eye glasses on someone with damage to the retina. Fitting a conductive hearing loss, where hair cells are intact, is more like fitting glasses. While damaged hair cells cannot be replaced, hearing aids greatly improve your ability to hear and can dramatically enhance your quality of life.