How it works
To label the parts of a hearing aid, write a name on the blank line for each number: 1 to 7 on a behind-the-ear aid with an earmold, 8 to 12 on a receiver-in-canal aid. Names only, no fitting advice.
Read the full guide
Hearing aid word bank
In alphabetical order, to copy onto the board: battery door, button, dome, earhook (tone hook), earmold, microphone, receiver, retention tail, tubing, vent, wax guard, wire.
Numbers that get swapped
On the left-hand aid, 4 is the plastic hook on top of the case and 5 the pliable tube hanging from it. The line from 7 ends on a hole in the ear piece; the ear piece itself is 6. On the right-hand aid, two thin lines leave the capsule: 8 runs up over the top to the case, and 10 is the short loose tail. At the end of the wire, 9 is the capsule, 11 the disc on its tip and 12 the soft cap drawn pulled off.
- When marking, volume control is right on line 2, tone hook on 4, speaker on 9, and wax filter or wax trap on 11.
- The ear piece has two holes. The smaller one, where the tubing ends and sound comes out, is the sound bore: drawn, with no number.
- The right-hand case has microphone holes and a button too, with no second number. It has no battery door, like a rechargeable aid.
Questions and answers
What are the 4 parts of a hearing aid?
Counted as four: the microphone, the processor, the amplifier and the receiver, which is the speaker. Counted as three, the processor is left out. Only the microphone and the receiver have numbers on this worksheet. The other two are inside the case.
Is there a label worksheet for behind-the-ear hearing aids only?
Yes. Choose Behind-the-ear aid under Start from, and the sheet prints its seven numbers with the other aid faint. That aid is a hard plastic case worn behind the ear, holding the electronic parts and joined to an earmold that fits inside the outer ear.
What are the three types of hearing aids?
The three basic styles are behind-the-ear, in-the-ear and canal aids. Both on this worksheet belong to the first: the receiver-in-canal aid is a behind-the-ear style with its speaker in the ear. An in-the-ear aid holds every part in one shell, with no tube or wire.
What is a conventional hearing aid?
Wikipedia's hearing aid article uses the phrase for aids with a mold in the ear, like the left-hand one here. It sets them apart from a bone-anchored hearing aid, which is surgically implanted and uses the skull as the pathway for sound.