Hearing aids, as the name implies, are tools that help the human ear to hear. As a rehabilitation tool, it cannot restore hearing to normal for people with hearing loss, but it can amplify sound to a level that the person can hear, helping people with hearing loss to better communicate with others. Many people with deafness always try to solve their hearing problems with medication or surgery instead of wearing hearing aids. The truth is that only patients with conductive deafness (such as otitis media, cerumen blocking the external ear canal, external atresia, otosclerosis, etc.) may be able to improve their hearing with surgery or medication. In the early stages of sensorineural deafness, medication may help, but overall, there is little definitive effective treatment. This is when the use of hearing aids should be considered. Patients with conductive deafness should first consider medication or surgery, and for those who really cannot be treated for other reasons, optional hearing aids are often more effective. The main reason is that conductive deafness is only a mild to moderate hearing loss, and the maximum sound that the patient can tolerate is increased, and the patient’s ability to distinguish frequency and time is still normal. In contrast, patients with neurological deafness show not only a decrease in hearing, but also a decrease in frequency and time discrimination. The maximum sound that the patient can tolerate is not only not improved, but may even be reduced, which is expressed as “I can’t hear in a low voice, I can’t stand in a high voice”. Most common hearing aids are simply a sound amplifier. When a louder sound is amplified by a hearing aid, the patient is likely to be unable to tolerate it. In addition, although the hearing aid amplifies the sound, the patient’s own discriminatory ability is poor, and it is difficult to receive satisfactory results if the amplification is not targeted. This is the reason why many patients with neurological deafness are not satisfied with their hearing aids. In addition, the hearing aid market in China is relatively chaotic, and there is no certification system for matching personnel, and stores and individual stores can distribute them. Many people are motivated by commercial interests and do not choose hearing aids scientifically. This has created a bad impression of hearing aids among some deaf patients. In the last decade, microelectronic technology has been applied to the field of hearing aids. Various hearing aid manufacturers around the world have invested a lot of energy in developing integrated circuit hearing aids with automatic processing function, programmable hearing aids and fully digital hearing aids to suit the needs of patients with neurological deafness, which have solved the problem of matching neurological deafness relatively well. Finally, we will talk about the maintenance of hearing aids. Many patients are concerned about the life span of hearing aids, but the life span of hearing aids is closely related to maintenance. Hearing aids are precision electronic devices and should be protected from moisture, dirt, drops, water short circuits, etc. Hearing aids are worn directly behind the ear or stuffed in the ear canal. Cerumen in the ear canal and evaporation of skin sweat may affect the life of hearing aids. You should always clean the earmould with a small brush or wipe the body with a dry soft cloth, never use organic solvents or water to wipe. In the south or coastal areas where it is humid, you can put the hearing aid in a dry box at night when it is not in use. When the hearing aid is not used for a long time, the battery should be taken out to avoid battery leakage and corrosion of the hearing aid. You should avoid dropping the hearing aid by gravity, and you should not wash your face, take a bath or swim with your hearing aid on. If you pay attention to the above issues, your hearing aid will be with you for a long time.