We all love a good bargain. But you should be careful and watch out for little details when it comes to your health.
We know, it can be confusing, the names are rather similar, but hearing aids and hearing amplifiers are not the same. And making the wrong selection could have significant implications for your hearing and your general health.
Hearing amplifiers
A hearing amplifier is a little device that, when put in your ear, increases the volume of the sounds around you. These tend to be quite simple, one-dimensional devices which the government classifies as personal sound amplification devices. The volume of the world is basically turned up.
Because of their one-size-fits-all approach, hearing amplifiers are not recommended for individuals who have moderate to extensive hearing loss.
Hearing amplifier aren’t hearing aids
Once people learn that hearing amplifiers are not recommended for individuals with even modest hearing loss, the differences between the two devices begin to become pretty plain. Of course, hearing aids are recommended for people with hearing loss.
Both types of devices are capable of raising the volume of external sound. The biggest difference between the two devices is how cutting edge that amplification is.
- With hearing aids, only specific frequencies of sound are boosted. Because hearing loss often progresses wavelength by wavelength. Either high-frequency sounds or low-frequency sounds typically vanish first. Hearing aids work to fill in the holes in your hearing rather than just making everything louder. This selective approach is much more beneficial for individuals who suffer from hearing loss.
- Hearing aids can be calibrated for your environment. The acoustics of any given place will change depending on a long list of variables. Some hearing aids can fine tune to these changes automatically. A dedicated device or smartphone can calibrate hearing aids that don’t do it automatically. You will avoid fewer places because you will be capable of hearing better in a wider variety of settings as your hearing aids make little adjustments.
- Hearing aids are specifically manufactured to help you comprehend speech. Because communication is so essential in our lives and also because of the uneven way hearing loss progresses, this is an essential function. So this function has been prioritized by hearing aid manufacturers who have put substantial resources into improving it. In order to make certain voices can be heard clearly even in a noisy room, state-of-the-art technology and algorithms are bundled inside of modern hearing aids.
To put it bluntly, properly managing hearing loss depends on these features. In most cases, personal amplifiers don’t have these abilities.
Finding the best solution at an affordable price
Along with a diminished ability to hear, neglected hearing loss can also result in cognitive decline. Because amplifiers don’t differentiate between frequencies, if you raise the volume enough to hear what you’re missing, you’ll likely have it up too loud for other frequencies….and do additional damage. And who wants to do that?
Unless your hearing loss is from earwax, hearing aids and some surgeries are the only approved treatment options for hearing loss right now. Dismissing hearing loss and bypassing treatment doesn’t save you money ultimately. General healthcare costs have been found to increase by over 40% with untreated hearing loss. Fortunately, there are affordable solutions. Just ask us.
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References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077