Are hearing aids really worth the expense? The price is commonly a concern for individuals who suffer from hearing loss. You wouldn’t choose homelessness over investing in a new house. Price is not the only value consideration when it comes to purchasing 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 having them?” If you choose not to purchase hearing aids, there will be a financial cost, as it turns out. Your decisions should also factor in these expenses. Keep in mind some good reasons why getting hearing aids will save you money long term.
If You Decide to Invest in Less Expensive Hearing Aids, You Will End up Spending More
You will most likely find, while shopping for hearing aids, that there are 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 genuine hearing aids, they’re really amplification devices similar to earpods. They just crank up the sound all around you, including unwanted noise.
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 get an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid programmed to target your particular hearing requirements.
Store bought hearing devices also use cheap batteries. Spending large amounts of extra money on batteries can get expensive. You could end up swapping out batteries a couple of times every day if you decide on a cheap amplification device. The battery is likely to fail when you need it most, also, so prepare to bring lots of extras around with you everywhere you go. If you’re continuously replacing dead batteries, are you really saving money over time?
Higher quality hearing aids last much longer because they are made with more efficient electronics. Many models don’t even need to have their batteries replaced at all because they are rechargeable.
Career Problems
You could end up earning less if you choose not to wear hearing aids or to wear cheap ones. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal says that adults that have hearing loss don’t earn as much money – up to 25 percent less, and often have a hard time maintaining a job at all..
And why? Communication is crucial in every field and with the many factors involved, that one is dominant. 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 must poses strong listening skills. You’ll most likely end up missing out on the whole content of the conversation if you are always struggling to hear what people are saying. To put it simply, if you cannot take part in conversations, it’s very hard to succeed at work.
You will also endure a physical toll from trying to here while at work. Even if you are able to get through a day with sub-par hearing, the anxiousness that comes with worrying about whether you heard something right and the energy necessary to make out as much as possible, will make you fatigued and stressed out. Some affects of stress:
- Your ability to sleep
- Your relationships
- Immune health
- Your quality of life
All of these have the chance of affecting your work efficiency and lowering your income as a result.
More Trips to The Emergency Room
Loss of hearing comes with safety concerns. It will be dangerous for you to drive a vehicle or cross the street without quality hearing aids. How can you stay clear of something if you can’t hear it? How about emergency warning systems like a tornado alert or smoke alarm?
For a good number of jobs, hearing is a must for workplace safety like construction sites or production factories. That means that not wearing hearing aids isn’t just a safety hazard but also something that can restrict your career possibilities.
Financial safety is also a factor here. Did you pay the waitress too much for dinner because you couldn’t hear her? What did the sales representative say about the functions of the tv you’re looking at and do you require them? You may wind up paying more than you need to for features you don’t actually need.
The Health of Your Brain
One of the most significant issues that come with hearing loss is the greater risk of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that each 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 getting dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor linked to hearing loss. It is calculated that a person who has serious, neglected hearing loss increases their risk of brain impairment by five fold. The chance of getting dementia increases by three times with moderate hearing loss and doubles with even slight hearing loss. Hearing aids decrease these dangers.
There’s no doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you examine the costs you will encounter by deciding not to invest in hearing aids or purchasing cheaper ones, the decision is obvious. Make an appointment with your hearing care specialist today.