Hearing aid for cats
Many cat owners search the Internet, books or trade magazines for ways to do something about their cats' hearing loss. Other owners of hearing impaired cats seek advice from a veterinarian they trust
Often cats with white fur are affected by deafness or just hearing loss, although any other cat can be affected, but not as often as cats with white fur.
Many of them surely also come across ads looking for hearing impaired cats. The goal of this project was to have a cat fitted with a hearing aid by a hearing care professional. Many owners of such cats participated in this study.
A master acoustician from East Frisia, who developed a hearing aid for dogs in 1995, conducted studies on more than 40 cats together with veterinary experts from a German university. After a little over a year, it was determined that many of these cats from the study were not deaf, but only hard of hearing. All of the cats were healthy enough to tolerate the surgery well.
These cats had a tube inserted for the hearing aid. A digital hearing aid is used that does not close the cats' ear canal. With this method, these cats can continue to process the familiar acoustic signals in their brains unchanged. For these cats, sounds that they could no longer hear before the surgery become audible again.
Sound is delivered through the open ear canal. The small size of the hearing aid is very important in cats, otherwise they could tear it off. The master acoustician tested the device himself for two years under extreme conditions such as in a sauna or in very cold water. Only when it was certain that the hearing aid could be worn without irritation did testing on the cats begin.
Meanwhile, the wound caused by the surgery has healed very well. In the coming days, the hearing aid can be attached to the cats' ears. Initially, the hearing aid will be set very weak, so that the cat is not frightened when it suddenly hears sounds again, which it could not hear for a very long time. However, the device was tried out on the cats after surgery by transmitting waves through a computer.
The cats responded very positively to the device. Many owners are very happy to see their hearing impaired cats hear again. This hearing aid can help these cats live a better life.