Are hearing aids actually worth the money? People who deal with hearing loss are commonly concerned with the price tag. You wouldn’t choose homelessness above paying for a new house. The actual value of hearing aids is about a lot more than the price.
When shopping for a big-ticket item such as this you really should ask yourself, “what do I get out of wearing hearing aids, and what’s the consequence of not using them?” The fact is, you pay a financial price for deciding not to buy hearing aids. You should factor these costs into your decision too. Keep in mind some good reasons why getting hearing aids will save you money in the long run.
If You Decide to Purchase Cheaper Hearing Aids, You Will End up Spending More
You will probably find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that you can find cheaper hearing aids that will appear to save you money. If you shop for hearing aids on the internet, you will most likely find some that are cheaper than a nice dinner.
You get what you pay for in quality when you buy over-the-counter hearing devices. When you buy these devices, you’re in reality purchasing an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. They just crank up all of the sound around you, including unwanted noise.
A quality hearing aid is custom programable which isn’t a feature that cheaper devices provide. You can obtain an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid tuned to address your distinct hearing requirements.
Store bought hearing devices use cheap batteries also. Shelling out large amounts of extra money on batteries will get expensive. You could wind up changing out batteries a couple of times every day if you decide on a cheap amplification device. You’ll have to carry extra batteries around because they will normally fail when you need them most. If you’re constantly replacing dead batteries, are you really saving money over time?
Better electronics allow the higher quality hearing aids to have a lot longer battery life. Many designs don’t even need to have their batteries replaced at all because they’re rechargeable.
Career Issues
Choosing to not use hearing aids, or wearing cheap ones will be costly at your job. A 2013 study 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 without a job.
And why? Communication is essential in every job and among the many factors involved, that one is prevalent. You have to be capable of hearing what your boss says so that you can give good results. You have to be able to listen to customers so that you can assist them. You’ll most likely end up missing out on the whole content of the conversation if you are always trying to hear what people are saying. The bottom line is that it’s almost impossible to succeed if you can’t be a part of the conversation.
The ordeal of trying to hear on the job will take it’s toll on you physically, as well. Even if you are able to get through a day with sub-par hearing, the anxiousness that happens if you worry about whether you heard something clearly and the energy needed to make out as much as you can, will make you exhausted and stressed out. Some affects of stress:
- Your relationships
- Your overall quality of life
- The quality of your sleep
- Immune health
All of these have the possibility of impacting your work performance and lowering your income as a consequence.
More Trips to The Emergency Room
hearing loss comes with safety concerns. It will be hazardous for you to operate a vehicle or cross the street if you don’t use quality hearing aids. How can you stay clear of something if you’re not able to hear it? And you chance missing a public warning alert system such as a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alert.
For jobs like a manufacturing factory or a construction site, you need to be capable of hearing so that you and your coworkers to be safe. So your safety, and your career options, will be restricted if you don’t use the quality hearing aids you need.
You also should take into consideration financial security. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 or 85 dollars? What did the sales representative say regarding the features of the Television you’re checking out and do you really need them? Perhaps the lower priced style would be all you would need, but it is difficult to know if you can’t hear the person talk about the difference.
The Health of Your Brain
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.
Loss of hearing is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and various other types of dementia. It is calculated that someone with severe, untreated hearing loss increases their possibility of brain impairment by five fold. The risk of getting dementia goes up by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even slight hearing loss. Hearing aids reduce these dangers.
There is no doubt that a hearing aid will set you back a bit. If you examine all the problems that come with going without one or buying a lower quality device, it’s unquestionably a sound financial decision. Consult a hearing care specialist to learn more about hearing aids.