Are hearing aids really worth the money? The cost is often a concern for people who deal with hearing loss. Still, when you invest in a house you never learn the price and think, “well, being homeless is less costly”! The real value of hearing aids is about a lot more than the price tag.

You really need to ask yourself what the cost of not purchasing hearing aids will be and what the actual value of using hearing aids is.” As it turns out, there is a monetary cost for choosing not to buy hearing aids. Your choices should also factor in these costs. Understand why you will save money over time if you choose to buy hearing aids.

You Will Find Yourself Spending More For Deciding on Inexpensive Hearing Aids

You will probably find, when you’re shopping for hearing aids, that there are cheaper hearing aids that will seem to save you money. If you shop for hearing aids on the internet, you will probably find some that are cheaper than a nice dinner.

Regarding cheaper hearing aids, you get what you pay for. When you purchase these devices, you’re in reality buying an amplification device like earbuds, not a genuine hearing aid. All of the sounds around, including ones you don’t want to hear, are amplified.

A high quality hearing aid is custom programable which is not a feature that cheaper devices offer. If your hearing aids can be programmed to target your distinct hearing needs, you will have a much higher quality experience.

The batteries in store bought hearing aids are also low quality. Shelling out large amounts of extra cash on batteries can be expensive. You could end up swapping out batteries a couple of times each day if you decide on a cheap amplification device. You’ll have to bring extra batteries around because they will usually die when you need them most. If you’re constantly buying dead batteries, are you really saving money in the long run?

Higher quality hearing aids last much longer because they have more efficient electronics. Many models don’t even need replacement batteries at all because they’re rechargeable.

Career Issues

Choosing to not wear hearing aids, or wearing cheap ones will be costly at your job. A 2013 study published in The Hearing Journal reports that individuals with hearing loss earn less money – as much as 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 have to be able to hear what your employer is saying. You have to be capable of listening to clients so that you can assist them. You’ll most likely end up missing the whole content of the conversation if you are always struggling to hear what people are saying. To put it simply, if you cannot participate in discussions, it’s really hard to succeed at work.

The ordeal of trying to hear on the job will take it’s toll on you physically, as well. You will find yourself physically worn down from the energy used trying to make out what people are saying and stressed out about whether you heard them correctly. Here are some effects of stress:

• Your relationships
• Your overall quality of life
• Your ability to sleep
• Immune health

All of these have the possibility of affecting your work efficiency and bringing down your income as a result.

More Trips to The ER

Loss of hearing comes with safety concerns. It will be dangerous for you to operate 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 public warning systems like a tornado alert or smoke alarm?

For a good number of jobs, hearing is necessary for workplace safety like construction sites or production factories. So your safety, and your career options, will be restricted if you don’t use the quality hearing aids you require.

Financial security is also a factor here. Did the server say that you owe 25 or 85 dollars? Do you really need all those new television functions that you failed to hear the salesperson discussing with you? Perhaps the lower priced model would be all you would need, but it is hard to know if you’re unable to hear the person discuss the difference.

The Health of Your Brain

One of the most critical issues that come with hearing loss is the greater risk of dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that every year people spend as much as 56,000 dollars treating Alzheimers disease.11 billion dollars every year is spent in medicare costs to treat dementia.

The chance of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor linked to hearing loss. It is calculated that a person who has serious, untreated hearing loss increases their chance of brain impairment by five fold. The risk of getting dementia goes up by three times with modest hearing loss and doubles with even mild hearing loss. Hearing aids reduce these dangers.

Of course, there is a cost to buying hearing aids. If you analyze all the concerns that come with going without one or buying a lower quality device, it’s obviously a sound financial decision. Consult a hearing care professional to learn more about hearing aids.