Affordable or Cheap Hearing Aids – What’s the Difference?

Display of over the counter hearing aids at a pharmacy.

It just feels great to find a bargain, right? It can be invigorating when you’ve received a good deal on something, and the larger discount, the more satisfied you are. So letting your coupon make your buying decisions for you, always chasing after 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 choosing the cheapest option if you need hearing aids to manage hearing loss. Preventing the development of health problems including depression, dementia, and the danger of a fall is the entire point of using hearing aids in the first place. The trick is to find the hearing aid that best fits your lifestyle, your hearing requirements, and your budget.

Tips for finding affordable hearing aids

Affordable is not equivalent cheap. Affordability, as well as functionality, are what you should be looking for. That will help you get the most ideal hearing aid possible for your individual budget. These tips will help.

Tip #1: Do your homework: Affordable hearing aids exist

Hearing aid’s reputation for being incredibly expensive is not necessarily reflected in the reality of the situation. Most hearing aid makers will partner with financing companies to make the device more affordable and also have hearing aids in a variety of prices. If you’ve started exploring the bargain bin for hearing aids because you’ve already decided that really good effective models are out of reach, it could have serious health consequences.

Tip #2: Ask what’s covered

Some or even all of the expense of hearing aids might 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. There are government programs that frequently provide hearing aids for veterans.

Tip #3: Your hearing loss is unique – choose hearing aids that can calibrate to your hearing needs

Hearing aids are, in some aspects, similar to prescription glasses. Depending on your sense of fashion, the frame comes in a few choices, but the exact prescription differs significantly from person to person. Similarly, hearing aids might look the same cosmetically, but each hearing aid is calibrated to the individual user’s hearing loss needs.

Purchasing a cheap hearing device from the clearance shelf is not going to give you the same benefits (or any useful results at all in many cases). These amplification devices increase all frequencies instead of raising only the frequencies you’re having trouble with. Why is this so significant? Hearing loss is usually irregular, you can hear certain frequencies and sounds, but not others. If you increase all frequencies, the ones you have no problem hearing will be too loud. You will most likely end up not using this cheap amplification device because it doesn’t resolve your real issue.

Tip #4: Different hearing aids have different capabilities

There’s a tendency to view all of the great technology in modern hearing aids and imagine that it’s all extra, 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 calibrated specifically for people who have hearing loss. Many modern designs have artificial intelligence that helps filter out background noise or connect with each other to help you hear better. Also, selecting a model that fits your lifestyle will be easier 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 us to 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 the providers of amplification devices have a financial interest in persuading the consumer that their devices work like hearing aids. But that just isn’t the case.

Let’s take a closer look. An amplifier:

  • Provides the user with little more than basic volume controls (if that).
  • Turns up the volume on all sounds.
  • Is often cheaply made.

On the other hand, a hearing aid:

  • Can be programed to recognize distinct sound profiles, such as the human voice, and amplify them.
  • Can achieve maximum comfort by being shaped to your ear.
  • Has batteries that are long lasting.
  • Can regulate background noise.
  • Boosts the frequencies that you have a hard time hearing and leaves the frequencies you can hear alone.
  • Has highly qualified specialists that program your hearing aids to your hearing loss symptoms.
  • Will help you safeguard the health of your hearing.
  • Can be programmed with different settings for different places.

Your ability to hear is too crucial to go cheap

Regardless of what your budget is, that budget will restrict 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. This is why an affordable solution is what your focus should be. Just remember that your hearing deserves better than “cheap.”

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.