It just feels good to find a bargain, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve found a good deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your shopping decisions for you, always going after the least expensive items, is all too easy. But going after a bargain when it comes to buying hearing aids can be a big mistake.
Health repercussions can result from going for the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to manage hearing loss. After all, the entire point of getting hearing aids is to be able to hear well and to prevent health problems related to hearing loss including cognitive decline, depression, and an increased risk of falls. The key is to choose 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. Keep an eye on affordability and functionality. This will help you stay within your budget while enabling you to get the correct hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Research before you buy: Affordable hearing aids exist
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, however, is not necessarily reflected by reality. The majority of 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 exploring the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already resolved that really good effective models are out of reach, it could have serious health repercussions.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Insurance may cover some or all of the expenses associated with getting a hearing aid. As a matter of fact, some states require that insurance cover them for both kids and adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that frequently provide hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – find hearing aids that can tune to your hearing needs
Hearing aids are, in some aspects, a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is pretty universal (depending on your sense of style, of course), but the prescription is adjusted for your distinct needs. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can calibrate for you, personalized to your precise needs.
You’re not going to get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or any useful results at all in many cases). These amplification devices increase all frequencies rather than raising only the frequencies you’re having a hard time hearing. Why is this so significant? Hearing loss is usually irregular, you can hear certain 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 have the same features
There’s a tendency to look at all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, just bells and whistles. The problem with this idea is that in order to hear sounds clearly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you probably need some of that technology. The specialized technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Background sound can be blocked out with many of these modern models and some can communicate with each other. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier if you consider where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
It’s essential, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in a reliable way, that you have some of this technology. A little speaker that turns 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 isn’t a hearing aid
Okay, say this with me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. This is the most important takeaway from this article. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a monetary interest in persuading the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that just isn’t the case.
Let’s take a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Turns up the volume on all sounds.
- Provides the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
- Is often cheaply made.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Will help protect your hearing health.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a tough time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Has the capability to adjust settings when you change locations.
- Can create maximum comfort by being shaped to your ear.
- Can be programed to identify distinct sound profiles, like the human voice, and amplify them.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Has highly qualified professionals that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Can reduce background noise.
Your ability to hear is too essential to go 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. The long-term benefits of hearing aids and hearing loss management are well documented. That’s why you need to focus on an affordable solution. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”