It just feels good to find a bargain, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the larger discount, the more pleased you are. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the price your main criteria, to always choose the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your buying choices for you. When it comes to buying a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a big mistake.
Health repercussions can result from going for the cheapest option if you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Preventing the development of health issues such as depression, dementia, and the risk of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids after all. The trick is to find the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing needs, and your budget.
Choosing affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t always the same thing. 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 find the correct hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These tips will help.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aid’s reputation for being extremely expensive is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. Most manufacturers produce hearing aids in a number of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more budget friendly. If you’ve started searching the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already resolved that really good effective models are too expensive, it could have significant health repercussions.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Insurance might cover some or all of the expenses associated with getting a hearing aid. Actually, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. It never hurts to ask. If you’re a veteran, you might be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Find hearing aids that can be tuned to your hearing loss
In some aspects, your hearing aids are similar to prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of style, the frame comes in a few options, but the exact prescription differs considerably from person to person. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can tune for you, personalized to your precise needs.
You won’t get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many cases, results that are even remotely useful). These are more like amplification devices that raise the sound of all frequencies, not just the ones you’re having difficulty hearing. What’s the importance of this? Hearing loss is usually irregular, you can hear certain frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you boost all frequencies, the ones you have no problem hearing will be too loud. You will most likely end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t solve your real issue.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities
There’s a temptation to view all of the amazing technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, just bells and whistles. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds clearly. The sophisticated technology in hearing aids can be tuned in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Many modern models have artificial intelligence that helps filter out background noise or connect with each other to help you hear better. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier if you consider where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
That technology is essential to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. Hearing aids are much more sophisticated than a simple, tiny speaker that boosts the volume of everything. Which brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: An amplification device is not the same thing as a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a financial interest in convincing the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that’s dishonest marketing.
Let’s break it down. A hearing amplification device:
- Takes all sounds and turns up their volume.
- Is usually made cheaply.
- Provides the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
On the other hand, a hearing aid:
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a hard time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Can be programmed with different settings for different locations.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Can be programed to recognize distinct sound profiles, like the human voice, and amplify them.
- Can reduce background noise.
- Is set up specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing professional.
- Can create maximum comfort by being shaped to your ear.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Everybody has a budget, and that budget is going to restrict your hearing aid options regardless of what price range you’re looking in.
This is why an affordable solution tends to be the focus. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term benefits of hearing loss management and hearing aids is well documented. That’s why you should focus on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”