It just feels great to save money, right? Getting a great deal can be invigorating, and more rewarding the bigger the bargain. So letting your coupon make your buying decisions for you, always chasing after the least expensive items, is all too easy. When it comes to purchasing a pair of hearing aids, chasing a bargain can be a huge oversight.
Health repercussions can result from choosing the cheapest option if you require hearing aids to treat hearing loss. Preventing the development of health issues like depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the whole point of using hearing aids after all. Finding the correct hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the key.
Picking affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t necessarily the same thing. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be looking for. This will help you stay within your budget while allowing you to find the ideal hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aid’s reputation for being extremely pricey is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. Most manufacturers produce hearing aids in a wide range of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more affordable. 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 lasting, harmful impact on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. Some states, in fact, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children or adults. Asking never hurts. If you’re a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – find hearing aids that can calibrate to your hearing needs
Hearing aids are, in some aspects, a lot like prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of style, the frame comes in a few choices, but the exact prescription differs greatly from person to person. Similarly, hearing aids may look alike cosmetically, but each hearing aid is calibrated to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
Buying a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf won’t give you the same benefits (or, in many cases, results that are even remotely helpful). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of raising only the frequencies you’re having a hard time hearing. What’s the importance of this? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear some frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you raise the volume enough to hear the frequencies that are low, you’ll make it uncomfortable in the frequencies you can hear without amplification. In other words, it doesn’t really solve the problem and you’ll end up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids have the same features
There’s a tendency to look at all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, just bells and whistles. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds properly. 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 designs and some can communicate with each other. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be simpler if you consider where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
It’s essential, 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 up our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid
Alright, say this with me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as an amplification device. If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope it’s that. Because hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you think they work the same way as a hearing aid for a fraction of the cost. But that simply isn’t true.
Let’s have a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Supplies the user with little more than basic volume controls (if that).
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
- Is typically cheaply built.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Can regulate background noise.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for optimal comfort.
- Can identify and amplify specific sound categories (such as the human voice).
- Will help you safeguard the health of your hearing.
- Can be programmed with different settings for different locations.
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have trouble hearing.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Has highly skilled professionals that program your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
No matter what your budget is, that budget will restrict your options depending on your general price range.
That’s why we tend to emphasize the affordable part of this. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss management 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.”