Hearing deficiencies can range from partial hearing impairment to complete hearing loss. Often, an individual's hearing ability varies across the range of audible sound frequencies, and many individuals have hearing impairments with respect to only certain frequencies. For example, an individual's hearing loss may be greater at higher frequencies than at lower frequencies.
Hearing aids have been developed to compensate for hearing losses in individuals. Conventionally, hearing aids detect sound with the use of a microphone, which turns the sound into an analog signal. The analog signal must then be converted into a digital representation, such that it can be processed by a digital signal processor, as configured by an audiologist, to shape the sounds to compensate for the user's hearing deficiencies. However, in some instances, noise from the acoustic environment may interfere with the user's hearing experience.
In the following description, the use of the same reference numerals in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.