Our five senses give us the ability to enjoy the daily beauty that surrounds us. The value of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling are often taken for granted until one or more of those important tools start to deteriorate in some way. The ability to hear, as well as to see make life experiences more rewarding and certainly more enjoyable. The partial loss of hearing dramatically changes how life is perceived and choices that were once made quickly, become an effort due to hearing loss. Hearing aids have been around for centuries in some form, but most people found them bulky, burdensome and annoying. People who decided to use expensive custom fitted hearing aids, found themselves waiting weeks for it to be ready and then it would have to be adjusted from time to time, in order for it to function properly. New technology in hearing aids has solved those problems by introducing instant-fit hearing aids.

Instant-fit hearing aids are usually in-the-ear hearing aids although they don’t have to be. They are manufactured using an automated assembly system and are built with standard housings and are covered with soft flexible ear tips that vary in size. Instead of customizing the hearing aid in the factory, the instant-fit hearing aid is customized in the hearing specialist’s office. Instant-fit hearing aids have been going through the development stage for the last ten years. The first step was to create digital programmable aids, which allowed the hearing specialist to adjust the electro acoustics in the office. The next step was using pre-made cores and soft sleeves which eliminated the need for the costly hard-plastic hearing aid shells. When those two steps were achieved, the hearing aid specialist could adjust and fit the hearing aid in the office and that eliminated the need for the manufacturer to get involved after the hearing aid was produced and sold.

Purchasing an instant-fit hearing aid is like buying off the rack clothing. Minor adjustments might have to be made after the purchase, but the cost advantage is greater than buying custom made clothing. The instant-fit technology in hearing aids is here to stay. Manufacturers are improving their quality and performance. Consumers are taking advantage of their lower retail price. Custom hearing aids will still be important in the hearing loss market, because not everyone has a normal size ear canal. If the ear canal is abnormally shaped or is very small, a custom hearing aid with a factory customized shell is the only option at this point.

If the ear canal is a normal size, the choice between a custom fit or i nstant-fit hearing aid comes down to where the consumer wants to spend the money. An instant-fit hearing aid's digital signal processing devise can be put into a custom made hearing aid, but the cost is much higher. Some instant-fit hearing aids also have ear tips that are disposable. These ear tips have been designed to collect cerumen and as long as the consumer has the ability to change the ear tips, they are another option. The disposable ear tips may be less expensive in the short term, but for long term use a non-disposable instant-fit hearing aid is still the better choice. Instant-fit hearing aids will continue to improve and drop in price as the technology advances. With all the development taking place in hearing aids, the designer versions of instant-fits must be just a sound away.