Are hearing aids really worth the expense? People who have hearing loss are normally concerned with the cost. Still, when you invest in a house you never learn the price and think, “well, being homeless is less costly”! Price tag 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 cost of not using them?” The fact is, you pay a financial price for choosing not to purchase hearing aids. You should factor these expenses into your decision as well. Understand why you will save money in the long run if you decide to purchase hearing aids.
You Will Wind up Spending More if You Decide on Cheaper Hearing Aids
While shopping the hearing aids marketplace, you will undoubtedly come upon cheaper devices which seem to be less costly. You could even purchase a hearing aid from the internet costing less than a 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 buying an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. They just crank up all of the sound around you, including noises you don’t want amplified.
A high quality hearing aid is custom programable which is not a feature that cheaper devices offer. You can attain an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid programmed to address your specific hearing needs.
Over the counter hearing devices use cheap batteries also. It gets very expensive when you need to keep replacing dead batteries. You could wind up changing out batteries a couple of times every day if you go with a cheap amplification device. You’ll need to carry spare batteries around because they will normally fail when you most need them. Do you really save money if you need to replace worn out batteries every day?
Better electronics allow the higher quality hearing aids to have a lot longer battery life. Some models even have rechargeable batteries, getting rid of the need for constant replacements.
Problems With Your Career
You could end up earning less if you choose not to use hearing aids or to wear cheap ones. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal says that individuals that have hearing loss make less money – as much as 25 percent less, and are more likely to be without a job.
Why? There are lots of variables involved, but communication is critical in pretty much 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 boss is saying. And in order to assist customers or clients, you need good listening skills. 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 struggle to hear on the job will take it’s toll on you physically, as well. You will find yourself physically exhausted from the energy used trying to make out what people are saying and worried about whether you heard them correctly. Some affects of stress:
- Your relationships
- The quality of your sleep
- Immune health
- Your overall quality of life
As a consequence, your income will decline due to the effect on your work performance.
Having to go to the Emergency Room more frequently
hearing loss comes with safety issues. If you don’t have quality hearing aids, it will be dangerous for you to go across the street or drive a vehicle. If you’re unable to hear something, how can you avoid it? And you risk not hearing 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 construction sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be limited if you don’t wear the quality hearing aids you need.
Financial safety is a factor here, also. Did you overpay the waitress for dinner because you had a difficult time hearing her? What did the salesperson say about the functions of the Television you’re looking at and do you really need them? Perhaps the less expensive model would be all you would need, but it is difficult to know if you’re unable to hear the person discuss the difference.
The Health of Your Brain
One of the most important issues that come with hearing loss is the greater chance of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that each year people spend as much as 56,000 dollars dealing with Alzheimers disease.Dementia accounts for 11 billion dollars in Medicare expense annually.
The risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor involved with hearing loss. Someone who has ignored their hearing loss for a long time raises their chance of brain impairment by five fold. A moderate hearing loss carries three times the chance of ending up with dementia, and even a mild hearing issue doubles your chances. Hearing aids bring the danger back to a normal level.
There is no doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you analyze all the problems that come with not getting one or buying a cheaper device, it’s undoubtedly a sound financial decision. Schedule an appointment with your hearing care specialist today.
