It just feels great to find a bargain, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more satisfied you are. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the price your main consideration, to always choose the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your consumer choices for you. When it comes to purchasing a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a huge mistake.
If you require hearing aids to treat hearing loss, going for the “cheapest” option can have health repercussions. Avoiding the development of health problems like depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids after all. The key is to find the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing needs, and your budget.
Tips for picking affordable hearing aids
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be keeping your eye on. This will help you keep within your budget while allowing you to get the ideal hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aid’s reputation for being extremely pricey is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. The majority of manufacturers sell hearing aids in a number of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more affordable. If you’ve started exploring the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already decided that really good effective models are out of reach, it could have serious health consequences.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the cost of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. Actually, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. It never hurts to ask. If you’re a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Look for hearing aids that can be tuned to your hearing loss
In some ways, your hearing aids are a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is pretty universal (depending on your sense of fashion, of course), but the prescription is adjusted for your particular needs. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can calibrate for you, tailored to your exact needs.
You’re not going to get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or any helpful results at all in many instances). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of boosting only the frequencies you’re having a hard time hearing. Why is this so important? Hearing loss is often irregular, you can hear certain frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you raise the volume enough to hear the frequencies that are too quiet, you’ll make it uncomfortable in the frequencies you can hear without a device. Simply put, it doesn’t really solve the problem and you’ll wind up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities
It can be tempting to believe that all of the modern technology in a good hearing aid is just “bells and whistles”. The problem with this idea is that if you wish to hear sounds clearly (sounds such as, you know, bells and whistles), you likely need some of that technology. The specialized technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Many modern designs have artificial intelligence that helps filter out background noise or connect with each other to help you hear better. Additionally, considering where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you decide on a model that fits your lifestyle.
That technology is crucial to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. Hearing aids are a lot more advanced than a simple, tiny speaker that boosts the volume of everything. And that brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device isn’t a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as a hearing amplification device. This is the most important takeaway from this article. Because hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you believe they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the cost. But that just isn’t true.
Let’s break it down. An amplifier:
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
- Is typically cheaply made.
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
A hearing aid, conversely:
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Can limit background noise.
- Has highly qualified specialists that program your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can achieve maximum comfort by being shaped to your ear.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Can identify and amplify specific sound types (such as the human voice).
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Regardless of what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your general price range.
That’s why we often emphasize the affordable part of this. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term benefits of hearing loss management and hearing aids is well documented. This is why an affordable solution is where your attention should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”
