What Do Channel and Band Numbers in Hearing Aids Represent?

Hello.

One of the factors that users consider when choosing a hearing aid is the number of channels and bands in the device. Although the concepts of channel and band numbers are often used interchangeably during programming, the fundamental difference between them is the different dimensions of the hearing aid’s sound processing features.

In the continuation of the text, I aim to provide detailed explanations of the concepts of channels and bands and informative explanations that will enable hearing aid users to make more informed decisions in their hearing aid selections.

Channel number is a factor that determines the sound processing capability of the hearing aid. In hearing aids, the channel number represents the number of frequency ranges the device can process. Hearing aids with a higher number of channels allow for a more precise handling of the user’s hearing loss. Each channel represents a specific frequency range and the hearing aid can process sounds in these ranges independently.

Band number is another factor that determines the signal processing capability of the hearing aid. Each band has an area for processing the sound signal in the hearing aid. Bands cover wide frequency ranges and within these ranges, the hearing aid performs tasks such as noise reduction, improving sound clarity and increasing speech intelligibility.

Although the effective use of channel and band numbers and the appropriate device selection are related to the expertise of the practitioner, some clients who apply to hearing aid centers often want to receive information about these concepts. In these cases, I prefer to explain the concepts and the relationship between them using examples that are more understandable than formal explanations:

Imagine a color scale with a total of 4 primary colors. We can express this four-channel palette as 4 channels. Now, imagine that we have 16 colors under these four basic colors; a 16-color palette would indicate 16 channels. Therefore, the colors become more precise. We can describe the effect of the channel number in the hearing aid in the same way. We can roughly think of the band number as parts that work effectively on each channel. It can be equal to the channel number, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, a 16-channel device can have 16 band numbers or a 16-channel device can have 32 band numbers. In this case, two bands will offer adjustment options for one channel.

Additional Information:

For children’s hearing aids, channel and band numbers become more important compared to adult devices. Babies with hearing loss detected in newborn hearing screenings can use hearing aids after their 6th month. The hearing aids for these babies and children should be adequate in terms of channel and band numbers and should be of high quality in terms of noise suppression. This is because babies react to instantaneous sounds or sounds at frequencies that we cannot hear. The reason for this is that a newborn individual can encode auditory information more detailed and can hear more detailed than adults.

Alongside this information, some research results have indicated that there is no significant difference when the channel number in hearing aids is more than 4. Additionally, we can say that there are some disadvantages of having a higher channel number in specific cases. The processing speed of multi-channel hearing aids can be 2–3 ms slower than that of hearing aids with fewer channels. This may cause patients with low discrimination scores, mild to moderate low-frequency hearing loss that improves towards high frequencies, to hear the sound both from their own ear and from the device with more echo due to processing delay. Specifically, in these cases, there may be a preference for a device with fewer channels. In patients with significantly reduced discrimination, reduced frequency-specific sound tolerance, spending more time in noisy areas, and dynamic range varying by frequency, a multi-channel and multi-band device choice may yield better results.

In conclusion, although the number of channels and bands is an undeniable factor in choosing a hearing aid, it will not be sufficient on its own as a device selection criterion. Factors such as the degree of your hearing loss, your lifestyle, and your budget also play an important role in choosing a hearing aid.