Russ James was selling cars when he first got fitted for a new digital hearing aid. Pretty soon he quit his job and started selling hearing aids instead.

"My hearing had been going bad and getting worse for four or five years," Jones remembered. "It was so bad I thought I was going to lose my job. Then I got my first hearing aid and everything changed. It was like an epiphany."

Jones is just one of thousands of Hawai'i residents who have benefited from startling technological advances in the hearing-aid field in the past decade, said Tom Graham, one of the organizers of yesterday's Hear Hawai'i Information Expo sponsored by 'Ohana Kokua 'Ano Kuli, an organization dedicated to helping people who are hard of hearing.

Gone are the days of old-fashioned, unsightly analog hearing aids that simply amplified every noise, wanted and unwanted, and often included a sickening whistling noise that rattled around inside a user's head and forced a person to abandon the aid forever inside a desk drawer, Graham said.

Today's hearing aids are digitally enhanced mini-computers that can sense the difference between unwanted background noise and the words someone is trying to speak to you across the table and adjust the sounds accordingly. The new aids contain one or more directional microphones and digital chips, sometimes as small as a fingernail, that can be fine-tuned to deal with a user's particular difficulties. They can even be set up with different programs for the telephone, listening to music or going to a restaurant.

Even though the new models, which sell for between several hundred and $5,000, have been around for almost a decade, thousands of people in Hawai'i with hearing problems have yet to take advantage of them. Yesterday's exposition at the Hawai'i School for the Deaf and Blind was an opportunity for the public to learn about advances in the field.

"We wanted to provide a setting that gives information about the products without someone pressuring you to buy something," said Graham, who teaches at the school and uses an old-style hearing aid like the one he has had for 25 years because "it's what I'm accustomed to."

The most important thing for people who think they are losing their hearing is to be tested by a professional, who can then tailor a hearing aid to deal with specific problems.

Many people still are reluctant to do that, said James, who owns the Russell Hearing Aids company in Honolulu. "A lot of people need help, but first they need encouragement to get help," he said.

Mary Mass "encouraged" her husband, Wim, to attend yesterday's session, which attracted about 50 mostly older people. "I get so frustrated sometimes because I'd be standing right behind him and he wouldn't hear what I was saying," Mary Mass said.

Wim Mass said he had tried a new hearing aid a couple of years ago but dumped it into a drawer after about a week because it was uncomfortable and noisy. He thought the new technology, which dampens background noise while highlighting words, might be enough to have him give the aids another try.

Mass' experience is typical of many hearing-aid users who have become frustrated in the past, James said.

"You've usually got to use it for about 30 days to get accustomed to it," he said. "It takes time, but it's worth it. It can really change a person's life."

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.