Finding a bargain just feels good, right? Getting a great deal can be exhilarating, and more gratifying the better the bargain. It’s a little too easy, then, to make the cost your primary consideration, to always go for the least expensive option, to let your coupons make your buying decisions for you. When it comes to buying a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a huge oversight.
Health consequences can result from going for the cheapest option if you require hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Preventing the development of health problems such as depression, dementia, and the risk of a fall is the whole point of using hearing aids in the first place. Finding the correct hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the trick.
Tips for picking affordable hearing aids
Cheap and affordable aren’t always the same thing. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be keeping your eye on. That will help you get the best hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for taking a toll on your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily represented by reality. The majority of manufacturers produce hearing aids in a wide range of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more budget friendly. If you’ve already decided that the most reliable hearing aids are out of reach, you’re probably more likely to search the bargain bin than look for affordable and effective options, and that can have a long-term, negative affect on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Insurance may cover some or all of the expenses related to getting a hearing aid. Some states, in fact, have laws mandating insurance companies to cover hearing aids for kids or adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that frequently supply hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – find hearing aids that can calibrate to your hearing situation
In some aspects, your hearing aids are a lot like prescription glasses. The frame is rather universal (depending on your sense of style, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your specific needs. Similarly, hearing aids may look the same cosmetically, but each hearing aid is tuned to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
Purchasing a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf won’t give you the same benefits (or any helpful results at all in many cases). These are more like amplification devices that raise the volume of all frequencies, not only the ones you’re having problems hearing. Why is this so important? 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. You will probably end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t resolve your real problem.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids do the same things
There’s a tendency to view all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, simply bells and whistles. The problem with this idea is that if you wish to hear sounds properly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you probably need some of that technology. The specialized technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Background sound can be blocked out with many of these modern models and some can communicate with each other. Also, choosing a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier if you factor in where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
That technology is essential to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. A tiny speaker that cranks the volume up on everything is far from the sophistication of a modern hearing aid. Which brings us to 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. This is the number one takeaway from this article. Because hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you believe they work the same way as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that simply isn’t true.
Let’s take a closer look. An amplifier:
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about it.
- Is often cheaply built.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for optimal comfort.
- Has highly qualified specialists that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Can be programed to identify specific sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Will help protect your hearing health.
- Can limit background noise.
- Boosts the frequencies that you have a difficult time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
Your ability to hear is too essential to go cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your general price range.
That’s why we normally highlight the affordable part of this. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term advantages of hearing loss treatment and hearing aids is well recognized. That’s why you need to work on an affordable solution. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”