Are hearing aids really worth the cost? The price is commonly a worry for individuals who have hearing loss. You wouldn’t choose homelessness over investing in a new house. Cost is not the only value consideration when it comes to getting hearing aids.
You really need to ask yourself what the consequences of not getting hearing aids will be and what the real value of using hearing aids is.” If you decide not to buy hearing aids, there will be a monetary cost, as it turns out. Your choices should also factor in these costs. Keep in mind some good reasons why purchasing hearing aids will save you money long term.
You Will Wind up Spending More if You Decide on Cheaper Hearing Aids
You will likely find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that you can find cheaper hearing aids that will appear to save you money. You could even purchase a hearing aid from the internet costing less than a dinner.
You get what you pay for in quality with cheap hearing devices. These devices are not authentic hearing aids, they’re actually amplification devices similar to earpods. All of the sounds around you, including ones you don’t want to hear, are cranked up.
A quality hearing aid is custom programable which is not a feature that cheaper devices provide. If your hearing aids can be programmed to manage your particular hearing needs, you will have a much higher quality experience.
The batteries in store bought hearing aids are also low quality. Shelling out large amounts of extra money on batteries can get expensive. If you use the amplification device every day, you may possibly end up changing the battery up to a couple of times every day. You’ll have to carry spare batteries around because they will usually die when you most need them. Do you really save cash if you have to replace dead batteries all of the time?
Higher quality hearing aids last much longer because they have more efficient electronics. Many models don’t even need to have their batteries replaced at all because they are rechargeable.
Career Problems
Choosing to not use hearing aids, or using cheap ones will be costly at work. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal says that less money is made by people who have hearing loss – as much as 25 percent less, and are more likely to be jobless.
And why? There are lots of variables involved, but communication is important in pretty much every trade and that’s the dominant factor. You have to be capable of hearing what your supervisor says so that you can deliver good results. And in order to assist consumers or clients, you need strong listening skills. You’ll probably end up missing the whole content of the discussion if you are always trying to hear what people are saying. The bottom line is that it’s just about impossible to succeed if you can’t be a part of the conversation.
There will also be a physical toll from trying to here on the job. You will find yourself physically exhausted from the energy spent trying to understand what people are saying and stressed about whether you heard them correctly. Here are some effects of stress:
- Your immune system
- Your relationships
- The quality of your sleep
- Your overall quality of life
As a consequence, your income will decline because of the effect on your work performance.
Having to go to the Emergency Room more often
Loss of hearing comes with safety concerns. Without appropriate hearing aids, it will become dangerous for you to go across the street or drive a vehicle. How can you stay clear of something if you can’t hear it? And you chance not hearing a public warning alert system like a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alert.
For a good number of jobs, hearing is necessary for workplace safety such as construction sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be limited if you don’t use the quality hearing aids you need.
You also need to take into account financial security. Did the waitress say that you owe 25 or 85 dollars? What did the salesperson say regarding the features of the tv you’re looking at and do you require them? Perhaps the less expensive style would be all you would need, but it is hard to know if you’re unable to hear the person discuss the difference.
The Health of Your Brain
The increased chance of dementia is one of the most important issues with hearing loss. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that each year people spend as much as 56,000 dollars treating Alzheimers disease.11 billion dollars every year 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. Someone who has ignored their hearing loss for a long time raises their chance of brain impairment by five fold. The risk of getting dementia increases by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even minimal hearing loss. Hearing aids bring the danger back to a normal level.
There’s little doubt that a hearing aid will set you back a bit. If you analyze all the worries that come with not getting one or buying a lower quality device, it’s unquestionably a sound financial choice. Consult a hearing care professional to learn more about hearing aids.