From Adrian Kirkup, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
Richard Black asks if a hearing aid can be designed with software to selectively amplify sounds coming from the direction you are facing. I can tell him that my hearing aid does exactly that (Letters, 22 November).
Instead of picking up all the sounds entering the ear and amplifying select frequencies, my hearing aid software can be set for “Conversation in Loud Noise”. In theory, I can sit facing my wife in a crowded restaurant and forward-facing microphones amplify what she is saying, so I can hear her. In practice, they don’t work quite like that. Yes, I can hear what she says, but I can better hear the ladies who are lunching a couple of tables behind her.
