Are hearing aids actually worth the money? The price is commonly a concern for individuals who deal with hearing loss. You wouldn’t choose homelessness over investing in a new house. Price tag isn’t the only value consideration when it comes to purchasing hearing aids.
When shopping for a big-ticket item like this you really should ask yourself, “what do I get out of using hearing aids, and what’s the consequence of not having them?” Come to find out, you pay a financial price for choosing not to purchase hearing aids. You should factor these costs into your choice too. Bear in mind a few good reasons why buying hearing aids will save you money over time.
If You Decide to Buy Less Expensive Hearing Aids, You Will End up Spending More
You will likely find, while shopping for hearing aids, that you can find cheaper hearing aids that will seem to save you money. You could even purchase a hearing aid from the internet that cost less than a dinner.
When it comes to cheaper hearing aids, you get what you pay for. When you buy these devices, you’re actually buying an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. They just amplify the sound all around you, including noises you don’t want amplified.
Customized programming is the best function of a high-quality hearing aid, that you don’t have if you purchase a cheap hearing device. You can attain an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid programmed to target your particular hearing needs.
Over the counter hearing devices also use cheap batteries. It becomes very expensive when you have to keep replacing dead batteries. You could end up swapping out batteries a couple of times each day if you go with a cheap amplification device. You’ll need to carry spare batteries around because they will normally fail when you most need them. If you’re constantly purchasing dead batteries, are you actually saving money over time?
More efficient electronics allow the higher quality hearing aids to have a lot longer battery life. Many models don’t even need replacement batteries at all because they’re rechargeable.
Career Problems
Choosing to not wear hearing aids, or wearing cheap ones will be costly at your job. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal says that less money is made by adults who have hearing loss – as much as 25 percent less, and are more likely to be jobless.
Why? There are a lot of factors involved, but communication is vital in pretty much every trade and that’s the major factor. You need to be able to hear what your manager says so that you can give good results. And in order to assist customers or clients, you need good listening skills. If you spend the entire conversation trying to figure out what words people are saying, you’re probably missing the entire content. To put it simply, if you cannot take part in discussions, it’s really difficult to excel at work.
There will also be a physical toll from struggling to here on the job. You will find yourself physically exhausted from the energy spent trying to understand what people are saying and stressed out about whether you heard them right. Some impacts of stress:
- The quality of your sleep
- Your quality of life
- Your relationships
- Immune health
All of these have the possibility of affecting your work efficiency and bringing down your income as a consequence.
More Trips to The ER
There are safety problems which come with loss of hearing. It will be hazardous for you to operate a vehicle or cross the street without quality hearing aids. If you’re unable to hear something, how can you steer clear of it? And you chance not hearing a public warning alert system such as a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alert.
For quite a few jobs, hearing is a must for workplace safety like construction sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be limited if you don’t wear the quality hearing aids you require.
You also need to take into consideration financial security. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 dollars or 85? What did the salesperson say regarding the functions of the tv you’re checking out and do you require them? Perhaps the lower priced style would be all you would require, but it is difficult to know if you can’t hear the person discuss the difference.
Brain Health
One of the most important issues that come with hearing loss is the increased chance of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that Alzheimer’s disease costs people more than 56,000 dollars a year. 11 billion dollars annually is spent in medicare costs to treat dementia.
Loss of hearing is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and a variety of other types of dementia. Somebody who has ignored their hearing loss for a long time raises their risk of brain impairment by five fold. The risk of getting dementia goes up by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even minimal hearing loss. Hearing aids minimize these dangers.
Obviously, there is a price to purchasing hearing aids. If you examine the costs you will encounter by choosing not to invest in hearing aids or purchasing cheaper ones, the decision is clear. Schedule an appointment with your hearing care professional today.
