Are hearing aids actually worth the expense? The cost is commonly a concern for individuals who deal with hearing loss. You wouldn’t choose homelessness over investing in a new house. Price is not the only value consideration when it comes to getting hearing aids.
You really need to ask yourself what the consequences of not purchasing hearing aids will be and what the actual value of using hearing aids is.” If you decide not to get hearing aids, there will be a monetary cost, in fact. You should factor these costs into your choice too. Recognize why you will save money over time if you choose to buy hearing aids.
If You Decide to Invest in Cheaper Hearing Aids, You Will Wind up Spending More
You will probably find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that there are cheaper hearing aids that will appear to save you money. You could even buy a hearing aid from the internet that cost less than a dinner.
You get what you pay for in quality when you buy over-the-counter hearing devices. These devices are not genuine hearing aids, they’re really amplification devices like earpods. They just crank up the sound all around you, including noises you don’t want amplified.
Customized programming is the best feature of a high-quality hearing aid, that you don’t have if you purchase a low-cost hearing device. If your hearing aids can be programmed to address your specific hearing needs, you will have a much higher quality experience.
The batteries in over the counter hearing aids are also cheap. Spending large amounts of extra money on batteries can be expensive. You could wind up swapping out batteries a couple of times each day if you go with a cheap amplification device. The battery is most likely to die when you need it most, also, so prepare to bring lots of spares around with you wherever you go. If you’re continuously buying dead batteries, are you really saving money over time?
Higher quality hearing aids last much longer because they are made with more efficient electronics. Some even have rechargeable batteries, getting rid of the need for repeated replacements.
Problems With Your Career
Deciding to not wear hearing aids, or wearing cheap ones will be costly at your job. A 2013 study published in The Hearing Journal reports that people that have hearing loss earn less money – as much as 25 percent less, and often have a hard time maintaining a job at all..
Why? There are a lot of factors involved, but communication is vital in pretty much every industry and that’s the major factor. If you’re going to deliver good results, you have to be able to hear what your boss is saying. You need to be able to listen to customers so that you can assist them. 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 nearly impossible to succeed if you can’t take part in conversation.
You will also experience a physical toll from trying to here on the job. You will find yourself physically exhausted from the energy spent trying to make out what people are saying and worried about whether you heard them right. Here are some consequences of stress:
- Your quality of life
- Immune health
- Health of your relationships
- The quality of your sleep
As a consequence, your income will decline due to the effect on your work performance.
More Trips to The ER
There are safety problems which come with hearing loss. It will be dangerous for you to operate a vehicle or cross the street without quality hearing aids. If you can’t hear something, how can you avoid it? How about emergency warning systems like a twister alert or smoke alarm?
For numerous jobs, hearing is necessary for workplace safety like construction sites or production factories. That means that not using hearing aids isn’t simply a safety hazard but also something which can minimize your career options.
Financial security is a factor here, also. Did you pay the waitress too much for dinner because you couldn’t hear her? What did the salesperson say regarding the functions of the tv you’re checking out and do you really need them? Perhaps the lower priced style would be all you would require, but it is difficult to know if you can’t hear the clerk talk about the difference.
The Health of Your Brain
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 individuals more than 56,000 dollars a year. Dementia accounts for 11 billion dollars in Medicare expense annually.
Hearing loss is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and numerous other types of dementia. Somebody who has neglected their hearing loss for a long time increases their risk of brain impairment by five fold. The risk of getting dementia increases by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even slight hearing loss. Hearing aids mitigate these dangers.
There’s no doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you look at the costs you will encounter by choosing not to purchase hearing aids or buying cheaper ones, the choice is clear. Schedule an appointment with your hearing care professional today.