My Father's Hearing Aid's Star Wars-ian Connection

My father has a hearing aid that he hates to wear, but when he does I sometimes feel like I'm talking to R2-D2, with all the beeps, whistles and chirps it emits. You'd think with the technology available today they could make equipment that doesn't sound like an astro-droid. (One that sounded like a Sith Lord might be cool, of course, but I'll save that for another post.) Unlike C3-PO, however, I am not fluent in six million forms of communication, so the level of conversation tends to be - how do I put it? - poor. May the Force be with us.