Saving money just feels good, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve found a good deal on something, and the larger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying decisions for you, always looking for 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 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 getting hearing aids is to be able to hear clearly and to prevent health issues associated with hearing loss including mental decline, depression, and an increased chance of falls. Choosing the right hearing aid to suit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the key.
Tips for choosing affordable hearing aids
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Affordability, and functionality, are what you should be keeping your eye on. This will help you keep within your budget while enabling you to find the correct hearing aids for your personal requirements and budget. These tips will help.
You can get affordable hearing aids.
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily reflected by reality. Most hearing aid makers will partner with financing companies to make the device more affordable and also have hearing aids in a wide range of prices. If you’ve already made the decision that the most reliable hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and reliable options, and that can have a lasting, detrimental impact on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the cost of hearing aids may be covered by your insurance. As a matter of fact, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. It never hurts to ask. If you’re a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Look for hearing aids that can be calibrated to your hearing loss
In some aspects, your hearing aids are a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is rather universal (depending on your sense of fashion, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your specific needs. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can tune for you, personalized to your exact needs.
Picking up 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 amplification devices boost all frequencies rather than boosting only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. Why is this so important? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear some frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you boost all frequencies, the ones you have no trouble hearing will be too loud. You will most likely end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t resolve your real issue.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different functions
It can be tempting to believe that all of the modern technology in a good hearing aid is simply “bells and whistles”. The problem is that if you wish to hear sounds clearly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you likely need some of that technology. The sophisticated technology in hearing aids can be tuned in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Many modern models have artificial intelligence that helps block out background noise or communicate with each other to help you hear better. 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.
It’s essential, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in an efficient way, that you have some of this technology. Hearing aids are much more advanced than a simple, tiny speaker that boosts the volume of everything. And that brings us to our last tip.
Tip #5: An amplification device is not the same thing as a hearing aid
Alright, repeat after me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as an amplification device. This is the most important takeaway from this article. Because hearing amplification devices try very hard to make you think they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that simply isn’t the case.
Let’s break it down. A hearing amplification device:
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
- Is typically built cheaply.
A hearing aid, conversely:
- Has highly qualified professionals that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Will help protect your hearing health.
- Can minimize background noise.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for optimal comfort.
- Can pick out and amplify specific sound types (such as the human voice).
- Increases the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Has the capability to adjust settings when you change locations.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your overall price range.
That’s why we tend to 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 what your focus should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”