a multichannel hearing aid comprises at least one frequency channel having a compressor with a compression threshold at an output level below the hearing threshold and an attack time above 0 . 5 seconds whereby hearing of a sudden sound in a stationary sound environment is facilitated . with this compressor , the amplification of low signal levels may be increased compared to the prior art , as the compressor kicks in to generally suppress steady noises . the gain may generally be increased as high as feasible in view of the microphone baseline noise , which should preferably be kept below the hearing threshold . thus the user of the hearing aid will generally have the option of a higher gain of low level sounds than generally feasible with prior art hearing aids .