How to Choose Affordable Hearing Aids

Picture of green piggy bank representing affordable hearing aids and a good deal.

Who doesn’t love finding a good bargain? But when it involves your health, be careful what you buy and keep your eye on the small details.

The names “hearing aid” and “hearing amplifier” might seem similar but they are actually entirely different devices. And making the wrong choice could have significant ramifications for your hearing and your general health.

Hearing amplifiers

A small device that goes inside of your ear, a hearing amplifier increases the volume of outside sound. Technically categorized as personal sound amplification products by the government, these gadgets tend to be fairly simple and one-dimensional. The volume of the world is essentially cranked up.

Because of their one-size-fits-all approach, hearing amplifiers are not appropriate for individuals who have moderate to extensive hearing loss.

Hearing amplifier aren’t hearing aids

It begins to become fairly obvious that hearing aids aren’t the same as hearing amplification devices when you recognize that amplifiers are not recommended for people with even moderate hearing loss. Hearing aids, obviously, are encouraged for people who suffer from hearing loss.

Both types of devices can raise the volume of outside sound. But one of these devices has a much higher level of amplification technology and sophistication.

Hearing aids are specially designed to help you process speech. To some extent, that’s as a consequence of the uneven way hearing loss develops, but it’s also because communication is such a fundamental function of your hearing. So this function has been prioritized by hearing aid makers who have put significant resources into improving it. There are state-of-the-art algorithms and processes working inside of hearing aids to make sure that, even in a crowded and noisy room, voices come through clearly.
Whatever environment you find yourself, your hearing aids can calibrate to it. There are a number of variables that will influence the specific acoustics of a space. These adjustments can even be made automatically with some modern hearing aids. A dedicated device or smartphone can tune hearing aids that don’t do it automatically. By making small adjustments to the settings of your hearing aid, you’re able to hear better in a wider variety of settings, meaning there will be fewer locations you want to avoid.
Hearing aids are made to pick out and magnify certain wavelengths of sound. That’s because people tend to lose their hearing one frequency at a time. Wavelengths at the higher and lower end of the scale are usually the first to go. Rather than making everything louder, hearing aids work to plug holes in what you’re hearing. For individuals who have hearing loss, this selective approach is more effective.

Simply put, these capabilities are crucial components of correctly treating hearing loss. And these are attributes that are not present in most personal hearing amplifiers.

Finding the best option at an affordable price

Along with a diminished ability to hear, neglected hearing loss can also lead to mental decline. With amplifiers, you’re very likely to do more harm to your hearing because the device doesn’t distinguish frequencies and will most likely turn everything up to unsafe volumes. And who needs to do that?

Currently, the only approved treatments for hearing loss, if it isn’t a result of earwax, are some surgeries and hearing aids. You won’t save any money in the long run by failing to get treatment for your hearing loss. General healthcare costs have been shown to increase by over 40% with neglected hearing loss. Fortunately, there are affordable solutions. We can help.