It just feels great to find a bargain, right? Getting a good deal can be exhilarating, and more gratifying the bigger the bargain. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the cost your chief criteria, to always choose the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your consumer choices for you. When it comes to purchasing a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a big oversight.
Health consequences can result from going for the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to treat hearing loss. After all, the entire point of using hearing aids is to be able to hear well and to prevent health issues associated with hearing loss like mental decline, depression, and an increased risk of falls. Choosing the correct hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the trick.
Finding affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t always the same thing. Keep an eye on affordability and functionality. That will help you find the best hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids exist
Hearing aid’s reputation for being incredibly expensive is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. Most manufacturers sell hearing aids in a broad range of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more budget friendly. If you’ve already made the decision that the most effective hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more likely to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and effective options, and that can have a lasting, negative impact on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. Actually, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. Asking never hurts. 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 pretty universal (depending on your sense of style, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your particular needs. Hearing aids, too, have distinct settings, which we can tune for you, personalized to your precise needs.
You won’t get the same benefits by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many cases, results that are even slightly helpful). These are more like amplification devices that raise the sound of all frequencies, not just the ones you’re having difficulty hearing. Why is this so significant? Normally, hearing loss will only affect some frequencies while you can hear others perfectly fine. 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 amplification. In other words, it doesn’t actually solve the problem and you’ll end 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 simply “bells and whistles”. The problem with this idea is that in order to hear sounds properly (sounds such as, you know, bells and whistles), you probably need some of that technology. Hearing aids have innovative technologies calibrated specifically for people who have hearing loss. Background noise can be blocked out with many of these modern designs and some can connect with each other. In addition, 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 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 is not a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as an amplification device. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a monetary interest in persuading the consumer that their devices do what hearing aids do. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s take a closer look. An amplifier:
- Supplies the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
- Is usually built cheaply.
On the other hand, a hearing aid:
- Can minimize background noise.
- Increases the frequencies that you have a tough time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Has highly qualified professionals that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Can identify and boost specific sound categories (such as the human voice).
- Has the capability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for optimal comfort.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Everybody has a budget, and that budget is going to limit your hearing aid choices regardless of what price range you’re looking in.
That’s why we normally emphasize the affordable part of this. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss treatment are well documented. That’s why you need to work on an affordable solution. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”