Invisible in canal, or IIC hearing aids are the smallest style of hearing aids. They’re designed to sit further in the ear canal than other types and, as the name suggests, are almost invisible to other people. IICs are suitable for those with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Keeping your ear canal in good health is important to everyone. Due to how they sit in the ear, it’s important that IIC hearing aids are removed each day to ensure that your ear canals remain healthy. IIC’s are usually fitted with extraction cords for ease of insertion and removal.
The benefits:
- Small size renders them almost invisible to other people.
- Suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss.
- Preserves the natural acoustics of sounds originating from in front or behind the listener.
- Good for using the telephone.
The limitations:
- The small receiver size means that they’re not suitable for severe hearing loss.
- The smaller area also means that they can be more prone to feedback and echoing.
- The small ventilation hole increases the likelihood of hearing internal sounds (occlusion).
- The omni-directional microphone picks up sounds from all around the listener equally, making it difficult to hear in noisy environments.
- They don’t suit everyone’s ear anatomy.
- Require more maintenance than other types and can be damaged by wax entering the microphone port.
- Aren’t available with Telecoil, although slightly larger wireless versions are now available from some manufacturers.
Features include:
- Custom made to fit your individual ears’ anatomy
- Recommended for mild to moderate hearing loss
- Completely invisible in most cases