Around 15% of American adults (37.5 million) have trouble hearing, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). In most cases, the best way to treat hearing loss is with hearing aids. While 28.8 million people with hearing loss could benefit from hearing aids, a much lower percentage have actually tried them.
In fact, the NIDCD notes that only 30% of those with hearing loss over the age of 70 use hearing aids. Moreover, an even lower percentage (16%) of those between 20 and 69 use hearing aids. While millions of people could improve their quality of life with hearing aids, this begs the question:
What is holding people back from better hearing?
A variety of factors can prevent someone from purchasing hearing aids, from denying their hearing loss to concerns that hearing aids will make them ‘look old.’ Nevertheless, one of the primary reasons that people decide not to purchase hearing aids is cost.
If you, or your loved one, could benefit from hearing aids, you may be wondering if there’s a less expensive option available. With this in mind, let’s take a moment to discuss why hearing aids can be so expensive and what cheap hearing aid options are available.
Why are Hearing Aids so Expensive?
Envision this: Bob has hearing loss, so he decides to visit his local hearing aid provider. He schedules an appointment with the audiologist, takes a hearing test that confirms his hearing loss, and is told to purchase hearing aids. Bob then finds out that his new hearing aids could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 and decides he no longer wants to hear better.
Sound familiar? If you’ve visited your local hearing aid provider, you may have had a similar experience to that of our fictional character.
This illustration sheds some light on why hearing aids sold by local providers are often so expensive. Think about it: First, the provider needs to pay for the brick-and-mortar building. Then, they need to pay for the front desk assistant who checks you in and the certified in-house hearing specialist who carries out your appointment. In addition, they must have hearing aids shipped to their store to sell to you, and it doesn’t stop there.
Because most hearing aids sold by local providers also require custom programming, that means they also require several appointments with the audiologist. Depending on the situation, these appointments may consist of getting earmold impressions, hearing aid fittings, hearing aid programming, or routine hearing aid adjustments. Many hearing aid providers tac these appointments onto the cost of your hearing aids with plans that often cost another several thousands of dollars.
Additional costs may include research for creating the hearing aids you’re purchasing, paying for the licensing and continued education of in-house audiologists, and marketing. It’s also worth mentioning that many hearing aid companies tend to inflate their hearing aid prices because they include many extra bells and whistles that most people don’t even need.
Cheap Hearing Aids to Beware Of
While local hearing aid providers seem to be charging higher and higher prices these days, more affordable options also becoming more readily available. With the Internet, more hearing aid companies are popping up that sell ‘cheap’ hearing aids, but it’s important to be aware of which companies are reputable, and which aren’t.
One of the most common schemes that online companies try to pull is selling personal sound amplifiers (PSAP) as hearing aids. Although it’s been 10 years since the FDA put into effect that PSAPs and hearing aids are not the same, there are still organizations that try to pass their PSAPS off as hearing aids.
There are several signs to look for searching for a reputable online hearing aid company. For example, if the website can offer you an assurance that their hearing aids are FDA approved, you can feel confident that you’re purchasing medical devices designed to improve your hearing. You should also look for companies that offer trial periods, as this demonstrates the company’s confidence in their product.
The Right Affordable Hearing Aids
At Advanced Affordable Hearing, we provide customers like you with real, FDA approved hearing aids for a reasonable price. In fact, it’s our mission to help people hear better at a price you can afford. To do so, we’ve developed a business model that allows us to keep our prices low.
First and foremost, you may notice that we are only selling our hearing aids online and shipping them directly to you. Consider the aforementioned costs of your local hearing aid provider, from the brick-and-mortar building to the appointments. By shipping your hearing aids directly to you, we save money, so you can too.
Additionally, our hearing aids are pre-programmed to accommodate high-frequency hearing losses, the most common hearing loss type. Within that, however, we offer various types of hearing aids to accommodate mild to profound hearing loss levels. That way, you can select a hearing aid appropriate for your hearing loss.
Pre-programming our hearing aids also allows us to send you a product that works right out of the box. That means you won’t need to waste time or money-making trips to get costly adjustments.
Finally, we don’t bother to include those unnecessary bells and whistles that you probably won’t even need. But, our hearing aids still come with a volume control button, program settings, and other notable features, like background noise reduction. We also offer rechargeable hearing aids to smartphone-controlled devices, for those interested in such features.
If you are interested in learning more about purchasing affordable hearing aids with us, you can call our friendly customer service representatives at 1 (800) 804-0434. You can also visit our Online Hearing Check to get a general idea of your hearing loss and select the best hearing aids for you.
If for any reason you aren’t satisfied with our products, rest assured that we also offer a 30-day Money Back Guarantee.
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