It just feels good to find a bargain, right? It can be exhilarating when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the bigger discount, the more satisfied you are. So letting your coupon make your shopping decisions for you, always chasing after the least expensive products, is all too easy. When it comes to investing in a pair of hearing aids, going after a bargain can be a big oversight.
If you need hearing aids to manage 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 well and to prevent health problems related to hearing loss such as mental decline, depression, and an increased chance of falls. The key is to choose the hearing aid that best suits your lifestyle, your hearing needs, and your budget.
Finding affordable hearing aids – some tips
Affordable is not the same thing as cheap. Keep an eye on affordability and functionality. This will help you keep within your budget while enabling you to find the ideal 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 taking a toll on your wallet, a reputation, though, is not always reflected by reality. Most hearing aid makers will partner up with financing companies to make the device more budget friendly and also have hearing aids in a number of prices. If you’ve started searching the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already decided that really good effective models are too expensive, it could have serious health repercussions.
Tip #2: Find out what your insurance will cover
Insurance may cover some or all of the expenses related to getting a hearing aid. Some states, in fact, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for kids or adults. It never hurts to ask. 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 tune to your hearing situation
In some ways, your hearing aids are similar to prescription glasses. The frame is rather universal (depending on your sense of fashion, of course), but the prescription is calibrated for your particular needs. Hearing aids, too, have specific settings, which we can tune for you, tailored to your exact needs.
Purchasing a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf won’t give you the same results (or, in many cases, results that are even slightly helpful). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of raising only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. What’s the significance of this? Hearing loss is often uneven, you can hear some frequencies and voices, but not others. If you raise all frequencies, the ones you have no problem hearing will be too loud. You will probably end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t solve your real problem.
Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities
It can be tempting to think that all of the modern technology in a good hearing aid is simply “bells and whistles”. But you will need some of that technology to hear sounds clearly. The specialized technology in hearing aids can be dialed in to the user’s level of hearing loss. Background sound can be filtered out with many of these modern designs and some can connect with each other. In addition, taking into account where (and why) you’ll be using your aids will help you choose a model that fits your lifestyle.
It’s essential, in order to compensate for your hearing loss in a reliable way, that you have some of this technology. Hearing aids are much more advanced than a simple, tiny speaker that amplifies everything. Which brings us to our last tip.
Tip #5: An amplification device is not the same thing as a hearing aid
Okay, say this with me: A hearing aid is not the same thing as a hearing amplification device. If you get nothing else from this article, we hope it’s that. Because hearing amplification devices try very hard to make you believe they work the same way as a hearing aid for a fraction of the cost. But that simply isn’t the case.
Let’s take a closer look. A hearing amplification device:
- Takes all sounds and makes them louder.
- Is often cheaply built.
- Gives the user the ability to adjust the basic volume but that’s about all.
Conversely, a hearing aid:
- Has highly qualified specialists that program your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
- Is calibrated to amplify only the frequencies you have trouble hearing.
- Has long-lasting batteries.
- Can limit background noise.
- Has the ability to adjust settings when you change locations.
- Can be shaped specifically to your ears for maximum comfort.
- Can be programed to recognize distinct sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
- Will help protect your hearing health.
Your ability to hear is too important to go cheap
Everyone 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 advantages of hearing aids and hearing loss management are well recognized. That’s why you should concentrate on an affordable solution. Don’t forget, cheap is less than your hearing deserves.”