Finding a bargain just feels great, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve found a great deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying choices for you, always going after the least expensive products, is all too easy. But chasing a bargain when it comes to purchasing 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. Avoiding the development of health problems such as depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids after all. Choosing the correct hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the key.
Choosing affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t always the same thing. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be looking for. This will help you keep within your budget while enabling you to get the ideal hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These tips will help.
Tip #1: Research before you buy: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, however, is not necessarily represented by reality. Most hearing aid manufacturers 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 started exploring the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already decided that really good effective models are out of reach, it could have significant health consequences.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Some or even all of the cost 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. It never hurts to ask. There are government programs that often provide hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – choose hearing aids that can tune to your hearing needs
In some aspects, your hearing aids are similar to prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of fashion, the frame comes in a few options, but the exact prescription differs significantly from person to person. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can calibrate for you, tailored to your precise needs.
You’re not going to get the same benefits by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many instances, results that are even slightly helpful). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of raising only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. Why is this so important? Hearing loss is usually uneven, you can hear certain 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. In other words, it doesn’t really solve the problem and you’ll wind up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids do the same things
It can be tempting to think 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 innovative technologies tuned specifically for those who have hearing loss. Many modern designs have artificial intelligence that helps block out background noise or communicate with each other to help you hear better. Additionally, thinking about where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you select a model that fits your lifestyle.
That technology is crucial to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. Hearing aids are much more advanced than a simple, tiny speaker that amplifies everything. Which brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid
Alright, repeat after me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as an amplification device. If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope it’s that. 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 price. But that’s dishonest marketing.
Let’s have a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
- Is typically made cheaply.
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Will help you safeguard the health of your hearing.
- Can be programmed with various settings for different places.
- Can regulate background noise.
- Is set up specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing specialist.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Can be shaped specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Can be programed to recognize specific sound profiles, like the human voice, and amplify them.
Your ability to hear is too essential to go cheap
Everybody 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 option tends to be the emphasis. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss treatment are well recognized. This is why an affordable solution is where your attention should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”
