Receiver in the Ear Hearing Instruments

RIE Hearing Aids

What do you need to know about Receiver-in-Ear hearing aids?

Receiver-in-ear (RIE) hearing aids are the most popular type of hearing aid. They can also be referred to as receiver-in-canal hearing aids, RIC hearing aids, or RITE hearing aids.

RIE hearing aids are small, discreet, and very versatile. These digital hearing aids - which people also refer to as 'Bluetooth hearing aids' - typically offer great connectivity and audio streaming from everyday devices, e.g., smartphones and TVs. They also work with hearing aid accessories and apps. Rechargeable hearing aids are very convenient, giving you power without battery worries, and they are available in the RIE hearing aid style.

Design-wise, RIE hearing aids sit behind the ear. Traditionally, microphones in the main body of the hearing aids send sounds down through a thin, virtually invisible tubing, curving discreetly around the back of your ears, into a receiver covered with a comfortable dome. The dome-covered receiver sits in your ear canal. That is why Receiver-in-Ear hearing aids also belong to the ‘in ear’ hearing aids category, i.e., the sound processing takes place in your ear.

What does a hearing aid microphone do?

Microphones in hearing aids pick up sounds in your environment and convert the sound waves into electrical signals, ready to be sent to and amplified by the hearing aid receiver.

What does receiver mean?

A hearing aid receiver works as your ears’ own speaker system. It plays the amplified sounds received from the microphone in your ear, and your brain gives the sounds context.

What is a hearing aid dome?

A dome is a little plastic or silicone attachment that helps funnel the sound through to the ear and anchor the hearing aid onto the ear.

How small are RIE hearing aids?

Receiver-in-Ear hearing aids vary in size, but many are hardly noticeable. They are small and sit comfortably behind your ears.

Microphone & Receiver-In-Ear hearing aids (M&RIE)

The best hearing aids can sound so natural that you don’t really feel like you are wearing them at all. They do that by collecting sound with microphones, just like one your favorite singer might use.

Our hearing aids with M&RIE (Microphone and Receiver-In-Ear) uniquely uses three microphones to pick up voices and the sounds of your life.

The third microphone is placed in the ear to capture sound organically, so you hear naturally!

To find out if you are a candidate for M&RIE, ask your hearing care professional today.

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Comparison between RIE and BTE hearing aids

Receiver-in-Ear hearing aids (RIE hearing aids) and Behind-the-Ear hearing aids (BTE hearing aids) both sit behind the ear and have a thin, wrap-around, transparent tube running to the ear canal. These types of hearing aids also have subtle differences, which are important to consider.

RIE hearing aids

On RIE hearing aids, the receiver, i.e. your speaker system, sits directly in your ear.

RIE hearing aids usually have a small plastic or silicone dome covering the receiver that sits in your ear canal.

RIE hearing aids are suitable for many types of hearing loss.

BTE hearing aids

BTE hearing aids house the receiver in the main body of the hearing aid.

BTE hearing aids can use custom-made earmoulds (an earpiece) or domes that sit snugly in your ear, providing amplified sound and preventing whistling sounds.

BTE hearing aids tend to be the preferred solution for people with severe to profound hearing loss, as well as those susceptible to ear infections and earwax build-up.