Saving money just feels great, right? It can be thrilling when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the larger discount, the more pleased you are. So letting your coupon make your buying choices for you, always going after the least expensive items, is all too easy. When it comes to investing in a pair of hearing aids, going after a bargain can be a huge oversight.
If you require hearing aids to treat hearing loss, choosing the “cheapest” option can have health repercussions. After all, the entire point of using hearing aids is to be able to hear clearly and to prevent health issues associated with hearing loss such as cognitive decline, depression, and an increased risk of falls. Finding the correct hearing aid to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle, and budget is the trick.
Tips for choosing affordable hearing aids
Cheap and affordable aren’t necessarily the same thing. Affordability, and functionality, are what you should be looking for. That will help you find the most ideal hearing aid possible for your personal budget. These tips will help.
You can get affordable hearing aids.
Hearing aid’s reputation for being extremely expensive is not always reflected in the reality of the situation. Most manufacturers sell hearing aids in a number of price points and work with financing companies to make their devices more affordable. If you’ve already made the decision that the most reliable hearing aids are too expensive, you’re probably more inclined to search the bargain bin than seek out affordable and effective options, and that can have a long-term, detrimental 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. In fact, some states mandate that insurance cover them for both children and adults. Asking never hurts. If you’re a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aids through government programs.
Tip #3: Find hearing aids that can be calibrated to your hearing loss
In some aspects, your hearing aids are similar to 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 tuned to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.
You’re not going to get the same results by grabbing some cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf (or, in many instances, results that are even remotely useful). These are more like amplification devices that raise the sound of all frequencies, not just the ones you’re having difficulty hearing. Why is this so significant? Hearing loss is usually 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 a device. In other words, it doesn’t really solve the problem and you’ll wind up not using the cheaper device.
Tip #4: Not all hearing aids do the same things
It can be tempting to believe that all of the modern technology in a good hearing aid is simply “bells and whistles”. The problem is that in order to hear sounds clearly (sounds like, you know, bells and whistles), you most likely need some of that technology. Hearing aids have specialized technologies tuned specifically for those with hearing loss. Background noise can be filtered out with many of these modern designs and some can connect with each other. Also, choosing a model that fits your lifestyle will be simpler if you consider where (and why) you’ll be using your hearing aids.
That technology is necessary to compensate for your hearing loss in a healthy way. A little 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 isn’t a hearing aid
Okay, say this with me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as an amplification device. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because the manufacturers of amplification devices have a monetary interest in persuading the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that’s untruthful marketing.
Let’s take a closer look. An amplifier:
- Is typically cheaply built.
- Turns the volume up on all sounds.
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
A hearing aid, on the other hand:
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Can be molded specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Can be programmed with various settings for different locations.
- Is set up specifically to your hearing loss symptoms by a highly skilled hearing professional.
- Can reduce background noise.
- Will help safeguard your hearing health.
- Can identify and amplify specific sound categories (such as the human voice).
- Is tuned to amplify only the frequencies you have a hard time hearing.
Your ability to hear is too important to go 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 solution tends to be the focus. The long-term benefits of hearing aids and hearing loss treatment are well recognized. That’s why you should focus on an affordable solution. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”