Hearing aids are a worthy purchase. It’s a matter lots of people suffering from hearing loss ask when they look at the price tag of hearing aids. Even so, when you purchase a house you don’t determine the cost and state, “well being homeless is less costly!” The real worth of hearing aids goes beyond the price.
You should question, before buying costly items, “what’s the cost of deciding against hearing aids and what will I truly get out of them?” If you require hearing aids it will end up costing you more if you don’t invest in them. You will need to factor these costs into your purchase as well. Hearing aids will save you money in the long run, consider some reasons.
You Will Find Yourself Paying More for Choosing Cheap Hearing Aids
If you have searched the internet for hearing assistance devices, you know that there are low-priced, apparently more affordable ones available. You could pay more for a dinner than what some cheap hearing aids on the web would cost.
The problem with over-the-counter hearing devices is that you get what you pay for in quality. What you are in fact purchasing isn’t a hearing aid but, an amplification device similar to earbuds or headphones. These devices turn up the sound of everything around you. That includes unwanted background noise.
With cheap hearing devices you don’t get the most important features, such as customized programming. You can achieve a high level of quality by getting a real hearing aid tuned to address your specific hearing requirements.
Over-the-counter hearing devices employ cheap batteries as well. What this means is you can expect to spend cash for batteries frequently. You could possibly even have to replace the batteries a couple of times daily. Plan on carrying lots of spare batteries because the low-quality ones frequently fail when you actually need them most. Do you really save cash if you have to replace dead batteries on a daily basis?
Because the electronics are better, the batteries stay alive longer. Many even include rechargeable batteries, eliminating the need for repeated replacements.
Career Issues
If you need hearing aids and you decide not to get them, or if you purchase low-quality ones, it will cost you at your job. A 2013 study published in The Hearing Journal reports that adults with hearing loss usually earn less money – up to 25 percent less, and are more likely to be unemployed.
Why is this? There are a lot of reasons for this, but the dominant factor is that communicating is necessary in pretty much every industry. You must be able to hear what your boss is saying to deliver results. You should be capable of listening to clients to help them. When you spend the entire conversation attempting to figure out precisely what words a person is saying, you’re much more likely to miss out on the entire message. To put it simply, if you cannot engage in discussions, it’s not easy to excel at work.
The effort to hear what people are saying at the workplace takes a toll on you physically, also. Even if you find a way to make it through a day with inadequate hearing, the stress and anxiety that comes with worrying about if you heard everything right plus the energy needed to make out just enough will make you depleted and stressed. Here are some impacts associated with stress:
- Your immune system
- Your ability to sleep
- Your relationships
- Your quality of life
These all have the potential to impair your job performance and decrease your earnings as a consequence.
More Trips to the ER
There is a safety concern that comes with loss of hearing. Without proper hearing aids, it is unsafe for you to go across the road or operate a car. How can you stay clear of something if you can’t hear it? How about environmental warning systems like a storm alert or smoke alarm?
For quite a few jobs, hearing is a must for work-site safety practices such as building and construction zones or processing factories. That means that not using hearing aids is not just a safety hazard but also something that can limit your career possibilities.
Financial safety is a factor here, too. Did the cashier say that you owe 25 dollars or 85? What did the salesperson tell you about the features on the Television you are shopping for and do you require them? Perhaps the less expensive unit is the better choice for you, but it’s difficult to know if you can’t hear the salesperson explain the difference.
The Health of Your Brain
One of the most important concerns that come with hearing loss is the increased possibility of getting dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that Alzheimer’s disease costs people more than 56,000 dollars a year. Dementia makes up about 11 billion dollars in Medicare expenditure every year.
Hearing loss is a recognized risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and some other forms of dementia. It has been estimated that someone with extreme, untreated hearing loss multiplies their chances of brain impairment by five fold. A moderate hearing loss carries three times the chances of dementia, and even a minor hearing problem doubles your chances. Hearing aids bring the danger back to a regular amount.
Without a doubt a hearing aid will set you back a bit. When you look at the many other problems associated with going without one or buying a cheaper device, it’s surely a prudent monetary choice. Consult a hearing care professional to learn more about hearing aids.