For the automatic choice of a hearing program, a hearing aid (1) detects whether it is located in the immediate vicinity of an external transmitter (10, 10′). The transmitter (10, 10′) generates a transmitter-specific signal so that an assignment of different transmitters can be made. In addition, in the case of the hearing aid (1), the current time of day and the day of the week can also influence the choice of the active hearing program.