Finding a bargain just feels great, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve received a great deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying choices for you, always looking for the least expensive products, is all too easy. But going after a bargain when it comes to purchasing hearing aids can be a big oversight.
Health consequences can result from going for the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to treat hearing loss. After all, the entire point of getting hearing aids is to be able to hear well and to prevent health issues associated with hearing loss including mental decline, depression, and an increased risk of falls. The trick is to choose the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing needs, and your budget.
Tips for finding affordable hearing aids
Affordable is not equivalent cheap. Look for affordability and functionality. This will help you stay within your budget while enabling you to find the correct hearing aids for your personal requirements and budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids are available
Hearing aids have a reputation for putting a dent in your pocketbook, a reputation, though, is not necessarily represented by reality. The majority of manufacturers produce hearing aids in a number 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 too expensive, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than look for affordable and effective options, and that can have a lasting, 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 costs associated with getting a hearing aid. Actually, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. Asking never hurts. There are government programs that often supply hearing aids for veterans.
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. Depending on your sense of fashion, the frame comes in a few options, but the exact prescription differs considerably from person to person. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can calibrate for you, tailored to your precise needs.
You’re not going to get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many cases, results that are even remotely helpful). These amplification devices increase all frequencies rather than boosting only the frequencies you’re having a hard time hearing. Why is this so significant? Usually, hearing loss will only affect some frequencies while you can hear others perfectly fine. If you make it loud enough to hear the frequencies that are low, you’ll make it painful in the frequencies you can hear without a device. You will most likely 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 temptation to look at all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and think that it’s all extra, just bells and whistles. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds properly. The sophisticated technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Many modern models have artificial intelligence that helps block out background noise or communicate with each other to help you hear better. In addition, considering where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you decide on a model that fits your lifestyle.
That technology is necessary to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. Hearing aids are a lot more advanced than a simple, tiny speaker that boosts the volume of everything. And that brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: An amplification device is not the same thing as a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because hearing amplification devices try very hard to make you think they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the cost. But that just isn’t true.
Let’s break it down. An amplifier:
- Is typically cheaply made.
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
- Provides the user with little more than basic volume controls (if that).
A hearing aid, conversely:
- Increases the frequencies that you have a tough time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Can be shaped specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Can regulate background noise.
- Has highly qualified professionals that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Can be programed to identify distinct sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
- Has the capability to adjust settings when you change locations.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
Your hearing deserves better than cheap
Everybody has a budget, and that budget is going to restrict your hearing aid choices regardless of what price range you’re looking in.
This is why an affordable option tends to be the emphasis. The long-term advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss management are well documented. This is why an affordable solution is where your attention should be. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”