For the cost of hearing aids, are they actually worth it. People who suffer from hearing loss are commonly worried about the cost. Even so, when you invest in a house you don’t see the price and think, “well, being homeless is less expensive”! Price is not the only value consideration when it comes to buying hearing aids.
When shopping for a big-ticket item such as this you really have to ask yourself, “what do I get out of wearing hearing aids, and what’s the consequence of not using them?” If you decide not to buy hearing aids, there will be a monetary cost, as it turns out. You should factor these costs into your choice as well. Recognize why you will save money in the long run if you choose to buy hearing aids.
If You Choose to Buy Cheaper Hearing Aids, You Will End up Spending More
While shopping the hearing aids marketplace, you will probably encounter cheaper devices that seem to be less expensive. You could even purchase a hearing aid from the internet costing less than a dinner.
You get what you pay for in quality with over-the-counter hearing devices. When you purchase these devices, you’re actually purchasing an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a real hearing aid. All of the sounds around you, including ones you don’t want to hear, are cranked up.
Personalized programming is the best feature of a high-quality hearing aid, that you won’t get if you buy a cheap hearing device. You can attain an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid programmed to address your distinct hearing requirements.
The batteries in store bought hearing aids are also cheap. It becomes very expensive when you need to keep replacing dead batteries. You could end up swapping out batteries a couple of times every day if you decide on a cheap amplification device. You’ll need to carry spare batteries around because they will usually fail when you most need them. Do you actually save money if you have to replace worn out batteries every day?
Better electronics allow the higher quality hearing aids to have a much longer battery life. 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 wearing cheap ones will be costly at work. A 2013 study published in The Hearing Journal says that adults with hearing loss make less money – as much as 25 percent less, and are more likely to be jobless.
Why? There are lots of variables involved, but communication is important in just about every industry and that’s the dominant factor. If you’re going to give good results, you need to be able to hear what your employer is saying. And in order to assist consumers or clients, you need strong listening skills. You’ll probably end up missing the whole content of the conversation if you are always struggling to hear what people are saying. The bottom line is that it’s just about impossible to excel if you can’t take part in conversation.
There will also be a physical toll from struggling to here while at work. You will find yourself physically worn down from the energy spent trying to understand what people are saying and worried about whether you heard them right. Some impacts of stress:
- Your immune system
- Your ability to sleep
- Your quality of life
- Health of your relationships
All of these have the possibility of affecting your work efficiency and lowering your income as a consequence.
Needing to go to the ER more frequently
hearing loss comes with safety concerns. If you don’t have quality hearing aids, it will become hazardous for you to cross the street or drive a vehicle. How can you avoid something if you can’t hear it? And you risk missing a public warning alert system like a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alarm.
For quite a few jobs, hearing is necessary for workplace safety like job-sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be restricted if you don’t wear the quality hearing aids you need.
Financial safety is a factor here, also. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 or 85 dollars? Do you really need all those new television functions that you failed to hear the salesperson discussing with you? Perhaps the lower priced model would be all you would need, but it is difficult to know if you’re unable to hear the person talk about the difference.
Brain Health
One of the most crucial problems that come with hearing loss is the greater risk of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that every year people spend as much as 56,000 dollars treating Alzheimers disease.Dementia accounts for 11 billion dollars in Medicare costs annually.
The risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor associated with hearing loss. Someone who has neglected their hearing loss for a long time increases their chance of brain impairment by five fold. A modest hearing loss carries three times the possibility of ending up with dementia, and even a slight hearing problem doubles your chances. Hearing aids return the danger to a normal level.
There is little doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you examine the costs you will encounter by deciding not to get hearing aids or purchasing cheaper ones, the choice is obvious. Consult a hearing care professional to learn more about hearing aids.
