“Cheap Hearing Aids” What You Should Know

The term “cheap” has dual meanings. For anyone on a tight budget, it means “affordability”. But we’ve all heard the phrase “You get what you pay for”, and in this example, the term “cheap” indicates low-quality hearing aids.

Unfortunately, determining whether you’re getting a great deal from whether you’re getting a really low-quality device can be challenging. This is particularly true in the realm of hearing aids.

The adage “you get what you pay for” is particularly potent with hearing aids. This means weeding out the devices that are priced in the “too good to be true” range, not necessarily going for the most costly option. Companies marketing inexpensive hearing devices frequently omit essential details about their products that consumers should be aware of.

Cheaper hearing aids are basically only amplifiers

Cheap “hearing aids” usually provide minimal functionality, primarily amplifying or decreasing overall volume. When you just amplify everything, the sounds you want to hear better are amplified but so are undesirable background noise you don’t want.

If everything is louder, it totally defeats the purpose of using a hearing aid.

Contrastingly, a high-quality, contemporary hearing aid goes beyond simple volume adjustment. It minimizes background noise while expertly managing sound and enhancing clarity. Authentic hearing aids simulate natural hearing with great accuracy and are custom tuned to your particular hearing needs.

Hearing aids vs. PSAPs

There are stringent rules about what an advertiser can call a hearing aid as published by the Food and Drug Administration.

Unfortunately, many personal sound amplification products PSAPs are wrongly advertised as hearing aids even though they just amplify sound.

There are lots of legitimate and reputable companies that comply with correct marketing. But you may find some uninformed salespeople or products on Amazon or eBay that mislead consumers into thinking that these devices meet the definition of a hearing aid. You may even find some that claim that they are FDA-approved when that’s actually not true.

They aren’t inclusive for the majority of kinds of hearing loss

The majority of people who lose their hearing will slowly lose particular frequencies of sound before others. You might have a hard time understanding a small child or a woman, for instance, but you have no issue understanding a man with a low voice.

A cheap hearing device typically results in total volume amplification. But just turning up the total volume will not be adequate for people who have a difficult time hearing certain frequencies. Moreover, turning the volume up significantly to hear the sound of your granddaughter playing on the floor may lead to your adult son’s voice sounding like a roar, possibly adding to hearing loss if subjected to high volumes for prolonged periods.

High-quality hearing aids provide a solution by being programmable to make up for the loss of particular frequencies. They can automatically adjust the frequency you struggle to hear to one that is more audible, providing a more customized and reliable hearing experience.

You might get a lot of feedback

Cheap hearing aids are usually not custom fit to your ears. A feedback loop is frequently the consequence of poorly fitting hearing aids. The microphone picks up the sound from the speaker in your ear as it wiggles around. What does this sound like? An ear-shattering screech.

They usually don’t have cellphone support

Functionality is often sacrificed when opting for budget devices, and this holds true for lots of inexpensive hearing aids lacking Bluetooth capability. The absence of Bluetooth becomes critical when considering phone connectivity. With cheaper hearing devices, when you attempt to amplify phone calls, your device will amplify every little sound, like your lips or ears brushing on the phone, or clothing and hair.

More sophisticated hearing aids are digital and utilize Bluetooth connectivity to connect directly to your phone. Overall communication and clarity will be improved so you can be certain you will hear your daughter’s voice on the phone.

They were never meant to treat hearing loss

This might come as a shock because so many people think otherwise. PSAPs were never made for individuals with hearing loss. They were made to help individuals who have fairly good hearing hear things a little louder.

Cheap devices may help a little if you only have minor hearing loss. But they won’t be of much use for individuals who actually need hearing aids.

Finding quality, affordable hearing aids

There are many ways to get hearing aids affordably. Insurance or other third parties may cover them. You can also find financing possibilities, leasing programs, and more affordable brands. The first step is to get a hearing test if you think you may have hearing loss. Call us today for a consultation, we can help figure out what’s best for you, depending on your degree and type of hearing loss, and make certain you land a pair that won’t break the bank!