Hearing aids are designed to improve speech understanding, provide comfortable amplification, and enhance environmental awareness within an extremely compact form factor. Their audio systems often combine miniature microphones, receivers, digital signal processing (DSP), and carefully engineered acoustic designs to deliver consistent performance across a wide range of listening environments. The designs also prioritize speech clarity, listening comfort, and natural sound quality while minimizing distortion, feedback, and unwanted background noise.
What distinguishes hearing aids from many other consumer audio devices is the integration of sound capture, signal processing, and personalized amplification into a single wearable system. Instead of focusing exclusively on audio playback, they are engineered to improve communication by using directional microphones, adaptive noise reduction, feedback management, and automatic adjustments for changing acoustic environments. This combination of acoustic engineering and signal processing enables hearing aids to provide individualized listening support while maintaining awareness of the surrounding environment.
Audio Precision offers a complete range of testing solutions for hearing aids. AP also meets both domestic and international industry standards—IEC 60118-0, and ANSI/ASA S3.22. And with Bluetooth 5 and LE audio testing capabilities, APx is ready to handle testing of both today's and tomorrow's hearing aids.
Technote 133: Hearing Aid Test with APx500 Audio Analyzers
TN133 discusses industry standard tests used to characterize the electro-acoustic performance of hearing aids. Specific standards addressed are IEC 60118-0:2015 and ANSI/ASA S3.22:2014. Testing of hearing instruments is reviewed in the context of measurements performed with APx500 Series audio analyzers and includes corresponding APx500 measurement software project files.
更多资源
访问我们的技术资料库
Hearing Aid Test with APx500 Audio Analyzers
This blog post explains the challenges of hearing aid testing, reviews the key ANSI and IEC standards, and highlights the APx500 features designed to simplify compliance testing and acoustic performance analysis.
立即下载
Quick Tip: APx1701 Transducer Test Interface
In this quick tip video, an Audio Precision expert provides an overview of the APx1701 Transducer Test Interface, an APx accessory device for electro-acoustic test applications.
立即下载
Measuring AGC with APx Audio Analyzers
This technote discusses the fundamentals of automatic gain control (AGC), how to measure AGC in hearing aids and other audio devices using the APx attack-and-release measurement plugin, and how to make other, related performance measurements.
立即下载
Leveled Acoustic Output
In this technote, we describe how to configure an APx500 series analyzer for leveled acoustic output. A project file which automates this process using the APx sequencer is also available.
立即下载
APx511 Datasheet
This datasheet covers information on the key features, specifications, and software options for the Audio Precision APx511 audio analyzer.
立即下载音频功放测试解决方案
浏览全部产品
Hearing Aid Audio Test
In this video, an Audio Precision expert provides an overview of hearing aid testing, covering ANSI and IEC standards, test requirements, equipment considerations, and a practical demonstration of the measurement process.
功放测试常见问题
The measurements listed below are used when testing according to IEC 60118-0 and ANSI/ASA S3.22 standards:
OSPL90 Frequency Response
Full-on Gain Frequency ResponsE
basic frequency Response
Total Harmonic Distortion
Equivalent Input Noise
Steady State Input Output
Attack and Release
Intermodulation Distortion
Battery Current
SPLIV Curve (ANSI/ASA S3.22 only)
Equivalent Test Loop Sensitivity
HFA MASL (IEC 60118-0 only)
For air conduction hearing aids, key audio test standards include American Standard ANSI/ASA S3.22, Specification of Hearing Aid Characteristics, and Parts 0 and 7 of the IEC 60118 series of international standards, Electroacoustics – Hearing Aids. The IEC 60118-7 series is nearly identical to ANSI/ASA S3.22; both standards are intended for production test of hearing aids covering the frequency range from 200 Hz to 5 kHz. Part 0 of the IEC 60118 series specifies many of the same tests as IEC 60118-7 and ANSI/ASA S3.22, but it covers a wider frequency range (200 Hz to 8 kHz), and it is intended more for R&D applications. These R&D applications can include developing specifications for a new hearing aid model or qualifying a model of hearing aid for sale in a country or regional jurisdiction.
With even the simplest ones, hearing aids include microphones, a power amplifier, digital signal processor, loudspeaker and controls integrated into a tiny, battery-powered package. Add in optional features like noise reduction, microphone arrays/beamforming, telecoils, wireless connectivity, remote control, variable DSP programs, direct audio input and synchronization between left and right sides, and things can get interesting.