Almost ten years later the second stage began with the creation of the hybrid hearing aid, in which the analog components of a conventional hearing aid consisting of amplifiers, filters and signal limiting were combined with a separate digital programmable component into a conventional hearing aid case. The audio processing remained analog but was able to be controlled by the digital programmable component. The digital component could be programmed by connecting the device to an external computer in the laboratory then disconnected to allow the hybrid device to function as a conventional wearable hearing aid.