Who doesn’t enjoy finding a good bargain? But you should be careful and watch out for small details in regards to your health.

We know, it can be confusing, the names are very similar, but hearing aids and hearing amplifiers are not equivalent. And your general hearing and health could suffer major repercussions if you make the wrong choice about this.

Hearing amplifiers

A little device that goes inside of your ear, a hearing amplifier raises the volume of external sound. These are generally quite simple, one-dimensional devices which the government classifies as personal sound amplification devices. A hearing amplifier is like cranking the volume up on the world.

Because of their one-size-fits-all approach, hearing amplifiers are not appropriate for people who have moderate to extensive hearing loss.

Hearing amplifier are not hearing aids

Once consumers learn that hearing amplifiers aren’t suggested for individuals with even moderate hearing loss, the differences between the two devices begin to become rather plain. Hearing aids, obviously, are encouraged for those who suffer from hearing loss.

Both types of devices can raise the volume of external sound. The main difference between the two devices is how sophisticated that amplification is.

• Hearing aids can be tuned to your environment. The acoustics of any given space will change depending on a long list of factors. Some hearing aids can adjust to these changes automatically. A dedicated device or smartphone can tune hearing aids that don’t do it automatically. By making small adjustments to the settings of your hearing aid, you’re capable of hearing better in a wider variety of settings, meaning there will be fewer places you wish to avoid.
• Selecting and amplifying speech is one of the main features of a hearing aid. To some extent, that’s as a consequence of the uneven way hearing loss progresses, but it’s also because communication is such a fundamental function of your hearing. Because of this, hearing aid makers have invested enormous resources into enhancing the clarity of speech above all else. There are state-of-the-art algorithms and processes working inside of hearing aids to make sure that, even in a crowded and noisy space, voices come through clearly.
• Hearing aids are made to identify and magnify specific frequencies of sound. That’s because people often lose their hearing one wavelength at a time. Either high-frequency sounds or low-frequency sounds commonly disappear first. Hearing aids work to fill in the holes in your hearing rather than just making everything louder. For people who have hearing loss, this selective approach is more effective.

To put it bluntly, properly treating hearing loss depends on these features. Usually, personal amplifiers don’t have these features.

Finding the best option at an affordable price

Untreated hearing loss can bring about cognitive decline, not to mention increasingly diminished hearing abilities. Because amplifiers don’t differentiate between frequencies, if you turn them up enough to hear what you’re missing, you’ll probably have it up too loud for other frequencies….and do additional damage. And that isn’t good for anyone.

Right now, the only approved treatments for hearing loss, if it isn’t a result of earwax, are some surgeries and hearing aids. You won’t save any money in the long run by neglecting to get treatment for your hearing loss. Overall healthcare costs have been found to increase by over 40% with untreated hearing loss. Luckily, there are affordable solutions. We can help.

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References

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077