Finding a bargain just feels good, right? Getting a good deal can be invigorating, and more gratifying the better the bargain. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the price your chief consideration, to always go for the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your buying choices for you. But going after a bargain when it comes to purchasing hearing aids can be a big mistake.
If you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss, choosing the “cheapest” option can have health consequences. After all, the whole point of using hearing aids is to be able to hear clearly and to prevent health issues related to hearing loss including mental decline, depression, and an increased chance of falls. Finding the right hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the key.
Tips for picking affordable hearing aids
Cheap and affordable aren’t necessarily the same thing. Affordability, and functionality, are what you should be looking for. This will help you keep within your budget while allowing you to find the ideal hearing aids for your personal requirements and budget. These tips will help.
Tip #1: Research before you buy: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for taking a toll on your pocketbook, a reputation, however, is not necessarily represented by reality. Most hearing aid makers will partner up with financing companies to make the device more budget friendly and also have hearing aids in a wide range of prices. If you’ve already decided that the most effective hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more likely to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and effective options, and that can have a lasting, harmful impact on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the cost of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. Some states, in fact, have laws mandating insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children or adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that often provide hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – choose hearing aids that can tune to your hearing situation
Hearing aids are, in some ways, a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is rather universal (depending on your sense of style, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your distinct needs. Hearing aids, too, have distinct settings, which we can calibrate for you, personalized to your precise needs.
You’re not going to get the same benefits by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many cases, results that are even slightly useful). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of boosting only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. Why is this so significant? Hearing loss is usually uneven, you can hear some frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you raise the volume enough to hear the frequencies that are low, you’ll make it painful in the frequencies you can hear without a device. You will most likely end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t resolve your real problem.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids do the same things
There’s a temptation to look at all of the amazing technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, simply bells and whistles. The problem with this idea is that in order to hear sounds clearly (sounds such as, you know, bells and whistles), you most 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 block out background noise or communicate with each other to help you hear better. Also, choosing a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier if you factor in where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
It’s crucial, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in an efficient way, that you have some of this technology. Hearing aids are much more sophisticated than a simple, tiny speaker that amplifies everything. And that brings us to our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device isn’t a hearing aid
Alright, 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 hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you believe they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that’s dishonest marketing.
Let’s break it down. An amplifier:
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about it.
- Is typically cheaply made.
- Turns up the volume on all sounds.
A hearing aid, conversely:
- Is adjusted specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly qualified hearing specialist.
- Can be shaped specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Can limit background noise.
- Has the capability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can be programed to identify specific sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
- Is calibrated to amplify only the frequencies you have trouble hearing.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Regardless of what your budget is, that budget will determine your options depending on your general price range.
That’s why we normally highlight the affordable part of this. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term benefits of hearing loss treatment and hearing aids is well documented. That’s why you need to work on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”