A hearing aid circuit using an averaging detector and a plurality of time constants to produce a compression control signal to control the gain of a compression amplifier which compresses an input signal when the averaging detector signal exceeds a predetermined threshold. The compression control signal has an attack and release time. The release time of the compression control signal is proportional to the duration of time during which the averaging signal's amplitude exceeds the predetermined threshold level. The release has a variable recovery rate. The recovery rate is relatively fast during an initial portion of the release time and relatively slower during the remaining portion of the release time. The hearing aid circuit may also use a volume control to adjust the gain of the signal produced by the compression amplifier without adjusting the gain of the signal produced by a linear amplifier to provide volume control for soft sounds independent of loud sounds.