Affordable Hearing Aids

When selecting your hearing aids, it’s important to consider a number of factors, including the severity of your hearing loss, your lifestyle and your budget. Luckily, affordable hearing aids aren’t hard to find, you just have to work with your audiologist to determine which style is best suited for your needs and which features will be most beneficial, or even unnecessary.

There are several considerations to make when you buy your hearing aid, but it’s important to remember that your budget its only one of them. While you may be tempted to skimp on technology, it’s crucial you get a device that will properly amplify sound and accommodates your needs, or you may not even wear it.

Understanding what features you need

The best way to find the right hearing aid for you is by examining the different features and styles and talking with your audiologist about which are the most beneficial for you. You can start by listing a couple of features that you think are important. Here are some examples:

• Do you need a hearing aid that can be equipped with a feature to mask tinnitus?
• Would you prefer a more discreet hearing aid?
• Is battery life a concern?
• Would you like a rechargeable hearing aid instead of one with replaceable batteries?
• What type of hearing aid style do you prefer?

These are a couple of basic questions you should ask yourself before you purchase any kind of hearing aid. There are many features and form factors that hearing aids take on, so it’s important to slowly and carefully make your decisions.

When considering your hearing aid budget, it’s important to think about your needs vs your wants. Needs should be the features that you absolutely have to have, whereas wants should be quality of life improvements that aren’t necessary for the daily use of your hearing aids.

After all, hearing aids are going to be worn for the majority of your life and you likely won’t replace your hearing aids for at least a decade if they’re an up-to-date pair that contains all the features you need. Remember that hearing aids are a necessary long-term investment, so budget shouldn’t be your only basis, especially if you need certain features.

Let’s go through some of the most important features to keep in mind if you’re on a budget and need to pick only the most crucial features.

Battery life

The last thing you want is for your battery to run out during use. Replacing your batteries can be rather difficult especially if you have limited dexterity and may require certain tools. If you’re concerned about this, it’s best to pick a larger hearing aid because they generally have better battery life. However, you could also pay a bit extra to opt for a rechargeable model. These batteries need to be replaced every four to five years with regular charging, but there’s no need to replace them constantly and it’s handy to be able to simply charge them every night and wake up to a fully-charged hearing aid.

Hearing aid styles and comfort

Being comfortable while wearing your hearing aids is also an important factor. Understanding the different styles can help you better choose whether you want to put your money into a smaller, more discreet style, or something larger and packed with features. The most common hearing aid styles include:

• Behind the ear (BTE): BTE hearing aids are the largest of the styles and can equip several features. They offer the most power of all types, making them suitable for individuals with mild-to-profound hearing loss. These hearing aids are also easy to handle for people with dexterity issues.
• In the ear (BTE): ITE devices are smaller than the BTE counterpart and come in full and half shell varieties. These devices are moderately sized, ideal for individuals with mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss and come in skin and hair tones to make them more discreet.
• In the canal (ITC): ITC hearing aids are the smallest of all styles and typically recommended for individuals with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. They offer the most privacy because they are worn inside the ear canal.

If you’d like to learn more about hearing aids and affordable options that we offer at Davis Audiology, then don’t hesitate to contact us at (864) 655-8300. We’re more than happy to discuss hearing aid options based on your budget and have a wide selection of devices from the top manufacturers for you to choose from.