It just feels great to find a bargain, right? Getting a great deal can be invigorating, and more gratifying the bigger the bargain. So letting your coupon make your shopping choices for you, always looking for the least expensive items, is all too easy. When it comes to purchasing a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a big oversight.
If you require hearing aids to treat hearing loss, going for the “cheapest” option can have health repercussions. After all, the whole point of using hearing aids is to be able to hear clearly and to prevent health issues related to hearing loss including mental decline, depression, and an increased risk of falls. The key is to find the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing requirements, and your budget.
Tips for picking affordable hearing aids
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Affordability, and functionality, are what you should be keeping your eye on. That will help you find the most ideal hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These tips will help.
You can find affordable hearing aids.
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily represented by reality. Most 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 already decided that the most effective hearing aids are out of reach, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and effective options, and that can have a lasting, detrimental impact on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Insurance might cover some or all of the expenses related to getting a hearing aid. Some states, in fact, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children or adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that frequently supply hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – choose hearing aids that can tune to your hearing situation
In some ways, your hearing aids are similar to prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of style, the frame comes in a few options, but the exact prescription differs considerably from person to person. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can calibrate for you, personalized to your exact needs.
Buying a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf won’t give you the same benefits (or any helpful results at all in many instances). These amplification devices boost all frequencies rather than raising only the frequencies you’re having a hard time hearing. Why is this so important? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear certain frequencies and voices, but not others. If you raise all frequencies, the ones you have no problem hearing will be too loud. Simply put, it doesn’t really solve the problem and you’ll end up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities
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 in order to hear sounds clearly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you most likely need some of that technology. The specialized technology in hearing aids can be tuned in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Background sound can be filtered out with many of these modern designs and some can communicate with each other. Also, choosing a model that fits your lifestyle will be simpler if you take into account where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
It’s crucial, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in an efficient way, that you have some of this technology. A tiny speaker that cranks the volume up on everything is far from the sophistication of a modern hearing aid. And that brings us to our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device isn’t a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a financial interest in convincing the consumer that their devices do what hearing aids do. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s break it down. A hearing amplification device:
- Turns up the volume on all sounds.
- Is typically cheaply built.
- Supplies the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
On the other hand, a hearing aid:
- Can achieve maximum comfort by being molded to your ear.
- Can be programmed with various settings for different locations.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have trouble hearing.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Has highly skilled specialists that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Can minimize background noise.
- Can pick out and boost specific sound types (like the human voice).
Your ability to hear is too important to go cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will determine your options depending on your overall price range.
This is why an affordable solution tends to be the focus. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term benefits of hearing loss management and hearing aids is well documented. That’s why you need to work on an affordable solution. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”