A Widex CROS hearing aid is very useful for those who experience hearing loss asymmetrically. CROS stands for Contralateral Routing Of Signals – which enables a better hearing and localisation of sound in noisy environments.

A CROS hearing aid is very useful to its wearer, especially when they have reduced or no hearing function in one ear and a normal hearing function in the other ear, and where a traditional hearing aid is not useful. This type of hearing aid allows the wearer to hear the sounds from both sides of the head.

In the Widex CROS hearing aid system, there is a large physical distance between the CROS adaptor microphone and the receiver – with each located on either side of the head, therefore, providing a very robust feedback system.

There is a microphone located in the Behind-the-ear (BTE) CROS adaptor, which picks up the sound. The sound is then routed to the amplifier and receiver in the hearing aid which is positioned at the normal hearing functioning ear. In this ear, an open ear mould is used to allow only natural sound to directly enter. A battery which powers the CROS adaptor is positioned by the open ear mould, in the hearing aid on the ear with normal functional hearing.

It is important to get the CROS hearing aid fitted properly, as it should amplify and transfer the sound from the ear with no hearing to the ear with normal hearing function.

It is also important to note that with the CROS hearing aid, the ear with the normal hearing will be able to detect sounds in all directions. The wearer will have to get used to wearing the CROS hearing aid and train their good functioning ear in order to differentiate between the sound and localisation of sound coming from the CROS adaptor and the natural, non-amplified sound entering the good functional ear.