It just feels great to find a bargain, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve received a great deal on something, and the larger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying choices for you, always chasing after the least expensive products, is all too easy. 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 treat hearing loss. After all, the whole point of getting hearing aids is to be able to hear well and to prevent health problems associated with hearing loss including mental decline, depression, and an increased chance of falls. The key is to choose the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing requirements, and your budget.
Tips for picking affordable hearing aids
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Look for affordability as well as functionality. That will help you get the best hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily represented by reality. The majority of manufacturers sell hearing aids in a number of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more budget friendly. If you’ve already decided that the most effective hearing aids are out of reach, you’re probably more likely to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and effective options, and that can have a long-term, negative affect on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. As a matter of fact, some states require that insurance cover them for both children and adults. It never hurts to ask. There are government programs that frequently supply hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Look for hearing aids that can be calibrated to your hearing loss
Hearing aids are, in some aspects, similar to prescription glasses. The frame is rather universal (depending on your sense of fashion, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your particular needs. Similarly, hearing aids might look alike cosmetically, but each hearing aid is calibrated to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
You won’t get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or any useful 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. What’s the significance of this? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear some frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you increase 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 problem.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids do the same things
It can be tempting to think that all of the modern technology in a quality hearing aid is simply “bells and whistles”. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds clearly. The sophisticated technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Background noise can be filtered out with many of these modern models and some can communicate with each other. Additionally, considering where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you choose a model that fits your lifestyle.
It’s crucial, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in a reliable way, that you have some of this technology. Hearing aids are a lot more sophisticated than a basic, 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
Alright, repeat after me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. This is the most important takeaway from this article. Because hearing amplification devices try very hard to make you think they work the same way as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that just isn’t true.
Let’s take a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Is often cheaply built.
- Takes all sounds and turns up their volume.
- Provides the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
On the other hand, a hearing aid:
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can pick out and boost specific sound categories (like the human voice).
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have difficulty hearing.
- Will help you safeguard the health of your hearing.
- Can reduce background noise.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Is adjusted specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing professional.
Your ability to hear is too crucial to go cheap
Regardless of what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your overall price range.
That’s why we often emphasize the affordable part of this. The long-term benefits of hearing aids and hearing loss treatment are well documented. This is why an affordable solution is where your attention should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”