It just feels great to save money, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve found a great deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying decisions for you, always looking for the least expensive items, is all too easy. But chasing a bargain when it comes to buying hearing aids can be a big oversight.
Health consequences can result from going for the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Avoiding the development of health problems such as depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids in the first place. Choosing the correct hearing aid to suit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the trick.
Finding affordable hearing aids – some tips
Cheap and affordable aren’t necessarily the same thing. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be keeping your eye on. This will help you stay within your budget while enabling you to get the correct hearing aids for your personal needs and budget. These are helpful tips.
Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids exist
Hearing aid’s reputation for being extremely expensive is not necessarily reflected in the reality of the situation. Most hearing aid makers will partner up with financing companies to make the device more affordable and also have hearing aids in a number of prices. If you’ve already decided that the most effective hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than look for affordable and reliable options, and that can have a lasting, negative affect on your hearing and overall health.
Tip #2: Ask what’s covered
Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids could be covered by your insurance. As a matter of fact, some states require that insurance cover them for both kids and adults. It never hurts to ask. There are government programs that often supply hearing aids for veterans.
Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – choose hearing aids that can calibrate to your hearing situation
Hearing aids are, in some ways, a lot like prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of style, 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, personalized to your exact needs.
You won’t 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 instead of boosting only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. Why is this so significant? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear some frequencies and voices, but not others. If you raise the volume enough to hear the frequencies that are low, you’ll make it painful in the frequencies you can hear without amplification. You will probably end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t solve your real issue.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different functions
There’s a temptation 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 clearly (sounds such as, you know, bells and whistles), you probably need some of that technology. Hearing aids have innovative technologies calibrated specifically for people with hearing loss. Background sound can be filtered out with many of these modern designs and some can connect with each other. In addition, thinking about 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 basic, tiny speaker that boosts the volume of everything. Which brings up our last tip.
Tip #5: A hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid
Okay, repeat after me: a hearing amplification device is not a hearing aid. If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope it’s that. Because hearing amplification devices try really hard to make you believe they do the same thing as a hearing aid for a fraction of the price. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s take a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Is typically built cheaply.
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
- Provides the user with little more than simple volume controls (if that).
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Has highly qualified professionals that adjust your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Will help you preserve the health of your hearing.
- Can reduce background noise.
- Increases the frequencies that you have a tough time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for optimal comfort.
- Has batteries that are long lasting.
- Has the ability to change settings when you change locations.
- Can pick out and boost specific sound categories (such as the human voice).
Your ability to hear is too crucial to go cheap
Regardless of what your budget is, that budget will determine your options depending on your overall price range.
This is why an affordable solution tends to be the focus. When it comes to hearing loss, the long term benefits of hearing loss treatment and hearing aids is well recognized. That’s why you need to focus on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”