Finding a bargain just feels good, right? Getting a great deal can be thrilling, and more rewarding the bigger the bargain. So letting your coupon make your buying decisions for you, always chasing after the least expensive products, is all too easy. When it comes to investing in a pair of hearing aids, going after a bargain can be a big mistake.
Health consequences can result from choosing the cheapest option if you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Preventing the development of health problems including depression, dementia, and the risk of a fall is the whole point of using hearing aids after all. Finding the correct hearing aid to suit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the key.
Picking affordable hearing aids – some tips
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Look for affordability as well as functionality. That will help you find the best hearing aid possible for your personal 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 always reflected by reality. The majority of manufacturers sell hearing aids in a wide range of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more affordable. If you’ve started searching the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already decided that really good effective models are too expensive, it could have serious health consequences.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. Some states, in fact, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for kids or adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that frequently provide hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Find hearing aids that can be tuned to your hearing loss
Hearing aids are, in some aspects, similar to prescription glasses. The frame is fairly universal (depending on your sense of fashion, of course), but the prescription is adjusted for your specific needs. Similarly, hearing aids may look the same cosmetically, but each hearing aid is calibrated to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
Picking up a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf is not going to give you the same benefits (or, in many cases, results that are even remotely useful). These are more like amplifiers that raise the sound of all frequencies, not only the ones you’re having trouble hearing. What’s the significance of this? Usually, hearing loss will only impact some frequencies while you can hear others perfectly fine. 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 amplification. In other words, 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
There’s a tendency to look at all of the amazing technology in modern hearing aids and think that it’s all extra, just bells and whistles. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds properly. 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 communicate with each other to help you hear better. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be simpler if you factor in where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
That technology is essential to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. A little speaker that cranks the volume up on everything is far from the sophistication of a modern hearing aid. And that brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid
Okay, say this with me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. This is the number one takeaway from this article. Because hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you think they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the cost. But that simply isn’t true.
Let’s have a closer look. An amplifier:
- Is usually built cheaply.
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
A hearing aid, on the other hand:
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Is adjusted specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing specialist.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Can limit background noise.
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can be programed to identify specific sound profiles, like the human voice, and amplify them.
- Can be shaped specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Everyone 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. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss management are well recognized. That’s why you need to focus on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”
