Have you ever had a hard time hearing a phone conversation or enjoying your iPad or laptop because the volume doesn’t get loud enough and you are hard of hearing? You aren’t alone and luckily, some app developers have created a hearing aid app that will help with this problem.

According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 36 million American adults have some hearing loss but only one fifth of them wear hearing aids or other types of hearing devices.

Many people refuse to wear hearing aids and devices because they are uncomfortable, unsightly, or inconvenient. Hearing aid makers have continued to make different types of hearing aids to fit everyone’s needs, but it has not had an effect on more people wearing them.

The new hearing aid apps can be used with smartphones to make calls more audible or other devices such as iPods and iPads, to improve the volume and make music, videos, and games more enjoyable for people with hearing problems. They also make the decibel range higher.

“People will always need really good hearing aids, but moving forward, what will differentiate competitors will be connectivity (to smartphones), and it will need apps,” Lars Viksmoen, chief executive of GN ReSound, a maker of hearing aids based in Denmark, said.

Another benefit of the apps is that they help make busy conversations more clear and you can even use it to preset your device to adjust to the volume or decibel that you desire or need.

This new technology is likely to improve the lives of many people and will grow over the next few years to include more devices and more uses. If you have a hearing problem, check out one of the hearing aid apps available in the app store or app market.

Image via Wikimedia Commons