Are hearing aids really worth the expense? The cost is often a worry for individuals who suffer from hearing loss. Still, when you invest in a house you never learn the price and say, “well, being homeless is less expensive”! Price is not the only value consideration with regards to getting hearing aids.
You really should ask yourself what the cost of not purchasing hearing aids will be and what the actual value of wearing hearing aids is.” The fact is, there is a monetary cost for choosing not to purchase hearing aids. You should factor these expenses into your choice too. Bear in mind some good reasons why buying hearing aids will save you money over time.
You Will Wind up Spending More if You Decide on Cheaper Hearing Aids
While searching the hearing aids market, you will probably come across cheaper devices which seem to be less expensive. 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 cheap hearing devices. When you purchase these devices, you’re actually buying an amplification device similar to earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. All of the sounds around you, including ones you don’t want to hear, are cranked up.
A high quality hearing aid is custom programable which isn’t a feature that cheaper devices offer. If your hearing aids can be programmed to manage your specific hearing needs, you will have a much higher quality experience.
Store bought hearing devices also use cheap batteries. It gets very expensive when you need to keep swapping out dead batteries. You could end up changing out batteries a couple of times every day if you decide on a cheap amplification device. You’ll need to bring spare batteries around because they will usually fail when you need them most. If you’re continuously replacing dead batteries, are you actually saving money over time?
Higher quality hearing aids last a lot longer because they are made with more efficient electronics. Many even have rechargeable batteries, eliminating the need for constant replacements.
Problems With Your Career
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 individuals that have hearing loss don’t make as much money – as much as 25 percent less, and often have a hard time keeping a job at all..
And why? Communication is crucial in every job and with the many factors involved, that one is prevalent. You have to be able to hear what your manager says so that you can give good results. You have to be able to listen to customers so that you can assist them. If you need to spend the entire discussion attempting to figure out what words people are saying, you’re most likely missing the entire content. To put it simply, if you cannot take part in conversations, it’s really difficult to excel at work.
The struggle 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 right and the energy required to make out as much as possible, will make you fatigued and stressed out. Here are some outcomes of stress:
- Your relationships
- The quality of your sleep
- Your immune system
- Your overall quality of life
All of these have the possibility of affecting your work performance and bringing down your income as a result.
More Trips to The Emergency Room
hearing loss comes with safety concerns. It will be dangerous for you to drive 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? How about public warning systems like a tornado alert or smoke alarm?
For a good number of jobs, hearing is a must for workplace safety like job-sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be limited if you don’t wear the quality hearing aids you require.
Financial security is a factor here, also. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 or 85 dollars? Do you really need all those new television features that you failed to hear the salesperson discussing with you? Perhaps the lower priced style would be all you would require, but it is hard to know if you can’t hear the person talk about the difference.
Brain Health
One of the most crucial problems that come with hearing loss is the increased chance of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that Alzheimer’s disease costs individuals more than 56,000 dollars each year. 11 billion dollars annually is spent in medicare costs to treat dementia.
Hearing loss is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and a variety of other kinds of dementia. It is calculated that a person who has serious, untreated hearing loss increases their risk of brain impairment by five fold. A modest hearing loss has three times the possibility of ending up with dementia, and even a mild hearing problem doubles your risk. Hearing aids minimize these dangers.
Of course, there is a cost to buying hearing aids. If you look at the costs you will encounter by choosing not to get hearing aids or getting cheaper ones, the decision is clear. Make an appointment with your hearing care specialist today.