[(Air-conduction) Hearing aids-indication, designs and applications : Signal processing and importance of individual fitting].

Many people in Germany and worldwide suffer from a reduced communication ability due to impaired hearing. Especially older people are affected. Hearing aids, which pick up ambient sounds, process them, and output airborne sound in the ear canal, can help in most cases. These so-called air-conduction hearing aids are commonly used to compensate for hearing loss and are described in more detail in this article. To this end, indications, differences to other hearing aids and implants, various designs, the importance of individual ear coupling, features of the signal processing, and the importance of the individual hearing aid fitting are explained in detail.