Saving money just feels great, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve found a good deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more satisfied you are. So letting your coupon make your buying choices for you, always chasing after the least expensive items, is all too easy. When it comes to purchasing a pair of hearing aids, going after a bargain can be a big oversight.
If you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss, going for the “cheapest” option can have health consequences. After all, the whole point of using 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 chance of falls. The key is to choose the hearing aid that best fits your lifestyle, your hearing requirements, and your budget.
Tips for choosing affordable hearing aids
Cheap and affordable aren’t always the same thing. Look for affordability as well as functionality. This will help you stay within your budget while enabling you to get the correct hearing aids for your personal requirements and budget. These tips will help.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for taking a toll on your wallet, a reputation, however, is not necessarily reflected by reality. The majority of manufacturers sell hearing aids in a broad range of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more affordable. If you’ve started exploring the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already resolved that really good effective models are too expensive, it could have significant health consequences.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Insurance may cover some or all of the costs related to getting a hearing aid. In fact, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. Asking never hurts. If you’re a veteran, you might be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – find hearing aids that can calibrate to your hearing needs
In some ways, your hearing aids are similar to prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of style, the frame comes in a few choices, but the exact prescription differs significantly from person to person. Hearing aids, too, have distinct settings, which we can calibrate for you, personalized to your precise needs.
Purchasing a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf is not going to give you the same benefits (or any helpful results at all in many cases). These are more like amplification devices that raise the sound of all frequencies, not just the ones you’re having problems hearing. Why is this so important? Typically, hearing loss will only affect some frequencies while you can hear others perfectly fine. If you make it loud enough to hear the frequencies that are too quiet, you’ll make it painful in the frequencies you can hear without amplification. Simply put, it doesn’t actually solve the problem and you’ll end up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities
There’s a tendency to view all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and think that it’s all extra, simply bells and whistles. The problem with this idea is that if you wish to hear sounds clearly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you probably need some of that technology. Hearing aids have innovative technologies tuned specifically for those who have hearing loss. Background noise can be filtered out with many of these modern designs and some can communicate with each other. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier if you factor in where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
That technology is crucial to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. Hearing aids are much more sophisticated than a basic, tiny speaker that amplifies everything. 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 aid is not the same thing as a hearing amplification device. If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope it’s that. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a monetary interest in convincing the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s break it down. An amplifier:
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
- Gives the user the ability to control the basic volume but that’s about all.
- Is usually built cheaply.
On the other hand, a hearing aid:
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have difficulty hearing.
- Can minimize background noise.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Will help protect your hearing health.
- Can identify and amplify specific sound types (like the human voice).
- Has highly qualified specialists that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Has the ability to adjust settings when you change locations.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will determine your options depending on your general price range.
This is why an affordable option tends to be the emphasis. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term advantages of hearing loss management and hearing aids is well documented. This is why an affordable solution is where your attention should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”