For the cost of hearing aids, are they actually worth it. The cost is commonly a worry for individuals who have hearing loss. Even so, when you invest in a house you don’t learn the price and think, “well, being homeless is less expensive”! Cost is not the only value consideration when it comes to buying hearing aids.
When shopping for a big-ticket item like 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?” As it turns out, you pay a financial price for choosing not to purchase hearing aids. You should factor these expenses into your choice too. Understand why you will save money over time if you decide to buy hearing aids.
You Will Find Yourself Spending More if You Decide on Cheaper Hearing Aids
You will probably find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that you can find cheaper hearing aids that will seem 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 with over-the-counter hearing devices. When you buy these devices, you’re actually purchasing an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. They just amplify the sound all 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 provide. You can get an excellent sound by having a quality hearing aid tuned to target your particular hearing needs.
Store bought hearing devices also use cheap batteries. Shelling out large amounts of extra money on batteries can get expensive. If you use the amplification device regularly, you may possibly end up changing the battery up to a couple of times each day. The battery is most likely to fail when you most need it, also, so prepare to carry lots of extras around with you everywhere you go. If you’re constantly buying dead batteries, are you really saving money over time?
Higher quality hearing aids last a lot longer because they are made with more efficient electronics. Some even have rechargeable batteries, eliminating the need for repeated replacements.
Issues With Your Career
It’s possible that you will earn less if you choose not to wear hearing aids or to wear cheap ones. Research conducted in 2013 and published in The Hearing Journal reports that adults with hearing loss don’t make as much money – up to 25 percent less, and often have a hard time keeping a job at all..
And why? Communication is crucial in every field and with the many factors involved, that one is dominant. You need to be capable of hearing what your manager says so that you can give good results. You need to be able to listen to customers so that you can assist them. If you need to spend the whole discussion attempting to decipher what words people are saying, you’re most likely missing the entire content. Simply put, if you cannot take part in discussions, it’s very difficult to excel at work.
The ordeal of trying to hear on the job will cause stress to you physically, also. Even if you are able to get through a day with sub-par hearing, the stress that comes with worrying about whether you heard something clearly and the energy required to make out as much as possible, will make you fatigued and stressed out. Some affects of stress:
- Your overall quality of life
- Your immune system
- The quality of your sleep
- Health of your relationships
As a consequence, your income will decline because of the impact on your work performance.
Needing to go to the Emergency Room more often
There are safety issues that come with hearing loss. If you don’t have appropriate hearing aids, it will become dangerous for you to cross the street or operate a vehicle. If you’re unable to hear something, how can you avoid it? And you risk not hearing a public warning alert system including a smoke alarm or severe storm warning alert.
For jobs including a manufacturing factory or a construction site, you need to be able to hear so that you and your coworkers to be safe. So your safety, as well as your career options, will be limited if you don’t use the quality hearing aids you need.
Financial security 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 might end up paying more than you need to for features you don’t really need.
The Health of Your Brain
One of the most important problems that come with hearing loss is the increased chance of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that Alzheimer’s disease costs people more than 56,000 dollars a year. 11 billion dollars annually is spent in medicare costs to treat dementia.
Loss of hearing is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and numerous other types of dementia. It is calculated that someone with serious, neglected hearing loss increases their chance of brain impairment by five fold. The chance of getting dementia goes up by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even minimal hearing loss. Hearing aids minimize these dangers.
There is little doubt that a hearing aid will cost you a bit. If you analyze all the worries that come with not getting one or buying a cheaper device, it’s undoubtedly a sound financial choice. Consult a hearing care specialist to find out more about hearing aids.