It just feels great to find a bargain, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the larger 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 oversight.
Health consequences can result from choosing the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Avoiding the development of health issues such as depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids in the first place. The key is to choose the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing needs, and your budget.
Choosing affordable hearing aids – some tips
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Affordability, and functionality, are what you should be looking for. That will help you get the best hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These tips will help.
You can find affordable hearing aids.
Hearing aid’s reputation for being incredibly pricey is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. Most hearing aid manufacturers will partner up with financing companies to make the device more affordable and also have hearing aids in a number of prices. If you’ve already decided that the most reliable hearing aids are out of reach, you’re probably more likely to search the bargain bin than look for affordable and effective options, and that can have a lasting, detrimental affect on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the cost of hearing aids might be covered by your insurance. Some states, in fact, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children or adults. Asking never hurts. If you’re a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – find hearing aids that can tune to your hearing situation
Hearing aids are, in some ways, 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. Similarly, hearing aids might look alike cosmetically, but each hearing aid is tuned to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
Buying a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf is not going to give you the same results (or any useful results at all in many cases). These amplification devices boost all frequencies rather than raising only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. What’s the significance of this? Hearing loss is often irregular, you can hear some frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you raise the volume enough to hear the frequencies that are too quiet, 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: Different hearing aids have different functions
It can be tempting to believe that all of the modern technology in a good hearing aid is just “bells and whistles”. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds clearly. Hearing aids have specialized technologies tuned specifically for people who have hearing loss. Background noise can be filtered out with many of these modern models and some can connect with each other. Additionally, thinking about where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you choose a model that fits your lifestyle.
It’s crucial, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in a reliable way, that you have some of this technology. A tiny 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: 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 a hearing amplification device. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because hearing amplification devices try very hard to make you think they work the same way as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s break it down. A hearing amplification device:
- Is typically cheaply built.
- Provides the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Has the ability to adjust settings when you change locations.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Can create maximum comfort by being molded to your ear.
- Can minimize background noise.
- Is adjusted specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly qualified hearing professional.
- Can be programed to identify specific sound profiles, like the human voice, and amplify them.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Will help you preserve the health of your hearing.
Your ability to hear is too important to go cheap
Everybody has a budget, and that budget is going to restrict your hearing aid choices regardless of what price range you’re looking in.
That’s why we tend to highlight the affordable part of this. The long-term benefits of hearing aids and hearing loss management are well documented. That’s why you should work on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”
