Hearing aids and Facetime (ears, severe, better, using)

[blisterpeanuts]

My mother has severe hearing loss and wears hearing aids, but even then it's really hard for her to communicate. Recently, though, she discovered that when using Facetime on the ipad, she could understand someone very clearly, even when they turned their head away.

Probably some of it is lip reading and other facial signs, but not all of it. And, of course, even in person it's hard for her to hear.

Yet, something about the crispness and clarity of Facetime seems to work better. It got me wondering -- is there some kind of hearing system that is a sharper and cleaner sound than the traditional in-ear hearing aids?

I'm guessing some compromises must go into the design of miniaturized in-ear electronics. Is there such a thing as a Walkman-sized belt pack and really good headphones that amplifies better than hearing aids? What would it be called?

Thanks for any help. I promised to do some research for her, but I hardly even know what to look for.