Living aids are a small device that spend their time in most cases inside and behind the ear of an individual who has a hearing impairment. The small device is used to amplify noises to increase the probability of an individual who is hard of hearing in distinguishing a sound. Technology over the past decade has greatly increased both the effectiveness of hearing aids as well as greatly reduced the obtrusiveness of a hearing aid. It used to be that an individual would have to wear an "ear trumpet" or "ear horn", which was a larger and very noticeable way of aiding hearing. Now many times you won't even notice that a hearing aid is being used until you look closely as they are very compact in size, and will often times blend right in with the ear of an individual. With the increased technology in batteries and power conservation, their is no longer a need for cables and pocket battery packets, instead the battery is concealed in the device itself! It's like James Bond, but this device is actually useful. There is several different types of hearing aids, which will vary in many ways among size, cost and power. Before making a choice on any different model or function, I would first recommend talking to your medical professional. Always put functionality ahead of all of your other choices. A hearing aid that looks great, but doesn't help your hearing, isn't going to be much of an aid at all. Same with one that you are constantly changing the battery out of,etc. Functionality and practicality goes along way in the purchase of a hearing aid.