Datalogging is a great bit of hearing aid technology that reports back to your hearing care specialist about how you are using your hearing aids.

Datalogging is a term that goes way back to 17th century sailors. Sailors needed to know the speed of their ship. A wooden block was attached to a rope, with knots tied into the rope exactly every 47 feet. They measured how quickly those knots passed through their hands as they sailed along to determine the speed of the vessel. This data was recorded in a book called a log (possibly named for that wooden block). How cool is that? I love the stories of words!

In working with hearing aids, datalogging helps us counsel hearing aid wearers about how they are using their devices. It assists us in making appropriate fine tuning adjustments and trouble shooting potential problems.

Let me give you some examples:

  • If the user is increasing or decreasing volume on a regular basis, we may want to adjust the internal settings to better meet his/her preferences.
  • If the log shows 24 hour a day usage, it is possible that the user has not remembered to turn off the devices when not in use, thus wasting batteries. Or if it indicates lttle usage we need to be sure that good batteries were in place and the instruments were turned on.
  • If the user is in many noisy environments, we may offer to adjust settings to manage the noise better. (Hearing ability in noise varies person to person, and may be a challenge).
  • Knowing how many hours a day the devices are being used, we learn if the user is doing what’s needed to acclimate to amplification.
  • By matching the user’s subjective report to the data collected by the instruments (how much time spent in noise, listening to music, in environments with speech present, etc.) we can work together to optimize and personalize the devices.
  • Datalogging also tells us how long the battery life is.

…. and much more.

One person gasped: “Does the hearing aid record what I am saying?”

I assured that no, it does not. Despite what we hear about Google and Facebook monitoring our lives, hearing aid datalogging is a sophisticated technology that helps us make your hearing aids as functional as possible to meet your needs. It offers us, the McGuire’s Hearing Center dispensers, information that guides our questions and recommendations so that together we help you reach your personal listening goals.