Decorah audiologists are offering hearing aids that can be adjusted through a smartphone

Dr. Cynthia See, left, explains smartphone/hearing aid technology to her patient, Brenda Dietiker.

It's no surprise that cellphone and smartphone technology has connected us with, well, just about everything. So, no wonder that hearing aids have become more hi-tech and smartphone-connected, too.

"The technology available for hearing amplification has improved dramatically in the last few years," says Mayo Clinic Health System audiologist Dr. Cynthia See, Au.D, who joined Winneshiek Medical Center last spring. "If patients have smartphones, there are hearing aids that connect through an app (a software application)."

Brenda Dietiker, a patient of Dr. See, is one who came on board with smartphone/app technology. She can adjust her hearing aids to the level she wants through her smartphone. If there's a place she likes to go – maybe a certain restaurant – she'll set the necessary amplification levels, then save the settings. The next time she goes there, she chooses that option on her smartphone and the hearing aids automatically adjust to those levels. Dietiker says she has different settings for home, office, grocery store, car – "anywhere I go." The technology also allows the user to geo-tag locations, so the hearing aids automatically adjust when going from one location to another.

Calvin Trepp, owner of Audibel stores in Decorah, Mason City, Charles City and New Hampton, says smartphone/app technology is just getting started. Older hearing aids may not connect to the new smartphones without an assisting device, if at all, since Bluetooth makes the wireless connection, he says. He sees the greatest benefit of the new technology for business folks who are on the phone a lot, like one of his customers, a 54-year-old farmer who is using the new app.

Dr. See adds that if a patient is not interested in going the smartphone route, there are other options that provide "clear, crisp hearing," and together, the patient and specialist can decide what is right for them. "The smartphone app is incredibly simple to use," says Dr. See. "But if my patients have trouble, I will help them understand how to make the adjustments. You don't have to be a technology-whiz for the hearing aids to work for you."