Are hearing aids really worth the expense? People who suffer from hearing loss are usually worried about the price. Even so, when you invest in a house you never learn the price and think, “well, being homeless is less costly”! Price tag is not the only value consideration when it comes to buying hearing aids.
When shopping for a big-ticket item like this you really need to ask yourself, “what do I get out of using hearing aids, and what’s the consequence of not using them?” If you choose not to get hearing aids, there will be a financial cost, in fact. You should factor these expenses into your decision too. Take into account some good reasons why purchasing hearing aids will save you money over time.
You Will Find Yourself Spending More if You Decide on Cheaper Hearing Aids
You will most likely find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that there are cheaper hearing aids that will seem to save you money. If you shop for hearing aids on the internet, you will probably find some that cost less than a nice dinner.
You get what you pay for in quality with cheap hearing devices. These devices are not genuine hearing aids, they’re really amplification devices like earpods. All of the sounds around you, including ones you don’t want to hear, are cranked up.
A quality hearing aid is custom programable which isn’t a feature that cheaper devices offer. If your hearing aids can be programmed to manage your particular hearing needs, you will have a much higher quality experience.
Store bought hearing devices also use cheap batteries. It gets very expensive when you have to keep swapping out dead batteries. If you use the amplification device regularly, you could possibly wind up switching the battery up to a couple of times each day. The battery is very likely to fail when you need it most, also, so prepare to bring lots of extras around with you everywhere you go. Do you really save money if you have to replace dead batteries all of the time?
More efficient electronics allow the higher quality hearing aids to have a lot longer battery life. Some models even have rechargeable batteries, eliminating the need for repeated replacements.
Problems With Your Career
Deciding to not use hearing aids, or wearing cheap ones will be costly at work. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal states that individuals that have hearing loss earn less money – up to 25 percent less, and are more likely to be jobless.
Why? There are lots of factors involved, but communication is vital in pretty much every industry and that’s the major factor. If you’re going to deliver good results, you have to be able to hear what your manager is saying. And in order to assist consumers or clients, you need good listening skills. If you need to spend the whole conversation attempting to decipher what words people are saying, you’re probably missing the entire content. To put it simply, if you cannot take part in discussions, it’s very difficult to excel at work.
There will also be a physical toll from trying to here on the job. You will find yourself physically exhausted from the energy spent trying to make out what people are saying and stressed out about whether you heard them right. Here are some consequences of stress:
- Your immune system
- Your ability to sleep
- Your relationships
- Your overall quality of life
As a result, your income will decrease due to the effect on your work performance.
More Trips to The ER
There are safety problems that come with hearing loss. Without appropriate hearing aids, it will be hazardous for you to cross the street or drive a vehicle. If you’re unable to hear something, how can you avoid it? And you chance missing a public warning alert system like a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alert.
For quite a few jobs, hearing is a necessity for workplace safety such as construction sites or production factories. That means that not using hearing aids is not just a safety hazard but also something that can limit your career possibilities.
You also need to take into consideration financial security. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 dollars or 85? What did the sales representative say about the features of the tv you’re looking at and do you require them? Perhaps the lower priced model would be all you would need, but it is hard to know if you can’t hear the clerk talk about the difference.
Brain Health
One of the most critical issues that come with hearing loss is the increased chance of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that each year people spend as much as 56,000 dollars dealing with Alzheimers disease.Dementia accounts for 11 billion dollars in Medicare costs annually.
The chance of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor associated with hearing loss. Someone who has ignored their hearing loss for a long time raises their chance of brain impairment by five fold. A modest hearing loss carries three times the possibility of getting dementia, and even a mild hearing issue doubles your risk. Hearing aids return the danger to a normal level.
There’s little doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you examine all the concerns that come with going without one or buying a lower quality device, it’s unquestionably a sound financial decision. Make an appointment with your hearing care specialist right away.