Finding a bargain just feels good, right? Getting a great deal can be thrilling, and more rewarding the better the bargain. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the cost your main criteria, to always choose the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your consumer decisions for you. But chasing a bargain when it comes to purchasing hearing aids can be a big mistake.
Health consequences can result from going for the cheapest option if you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Avoiding the development of health issues including depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the whole point of using hearing aids in the first place. The key is to choose the hearing aid that best fits your lifestyle, your hearing requirements, and your budget.
Finding affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t necessarily the same thing. Look for affordability as well as functionality. That will help you find the most ideal hearing aid possible for your personal budget. These tips will help.
You can get affordable hearing aids.
Hearing aids have a reputation for taking a toll on your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily reflected by reality. Most hearing aid manufacturers will partner up with financing companies to make the device more budget friendly and also have hearing aids in a variety of prices. If you’ve already made the decision that the most effective hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and reliable 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 costs associated with getting a hearing aid. Actually, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both kids 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 tuned to your hearing loss
In some ways, your hearing aids are a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is fairly universal (depending on your sense of style, of course), but the prescription is adjusted for your particular needs. Hearing aids, too, have distinct settings, which we can tune for you, personalized to your exact needs.
You’re not going to get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or any useful results at all in many cases). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of raising only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. What’s the importance of this? Usually, hearing loss will only impact some frequencies while you can hear others perfectly fine. If you increase all frequencies, the ones you have no problem hearing will be too loud. In other words, it doesn’t actually solve the problem and you’ll wind 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 quality hearing aid is just “bells and whistles”. The problem is that if you wish to hear sounds clearly (sounds such as, you know, bells and whistles), you most likely need some of that technology. The sophisticated 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. In addition, taking into account where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you decide on a model that fits your lifestyle.
It’s essential, 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 us to our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid
Alright, say this with me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. This is the most important takeaway from this article. Because the providers of amplification devices have a financial interest in persuading the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that just isn’t true.
Let’s break it down. An amplifier:
- Is typically cheaply built.
- Turns up the volume on all sounds.
- Supplies the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
A hearing aid, on the other hand:
- Is set up specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing professional.
- Can be programed to identify distinct sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have a hard time hearing.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Can limit background noise.
- Will help protect your hearing health.
Your ability to hear is too important to go cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your overall price range.
That’s why we normally highlight the affordable part of this. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss treatment are well documented. This is why an affordable solution is what your focus should be. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”