Who doesn’t love getting a good bargain? But you need to be careful and look out for small details when it comes to your health.
The terms “hearing aid” and “hearing amplifier” might seem similar but they are actually entirely different devices. And your general hearing and health could suffer serious consequences if you make the wrong choice about this.
What is a hearing amplifier?
A hearing amplifier is a little device that, when placed 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 strategy, hearing amplifiers aren’t appropriate for people who have moderate to extensive hearing loss.
Clear difference between hearing aids and personal amplifiers
Once people learn that hearing amplifiers are not recommended for people with even modest hearing loss, the differences between the two devices begin to become pretty stark. Of course, hearing aids are recommended for people with hearing loss.
Both hearing aids and hearing amplifiers make things louder. The primary difference between the two devices is how sophisticated that amplification is.
- Hearing aids can be tuned to your environment. The acoustics of any given space will change depending on a list of factors. Some hearing aids can adjust to these changes automatically. Others can be calibrated using a smartphone or a dedicated device. You will avoid fewer places because you will be able to hear better in a wider variety of places as your hearing aids make little adjustments.
- Hearing aids are specifically designed to help you hear speech. In part, that’s the result of the uneven way hearing loss develops, but it’s also because communication is such an important function of your hearing. As a result, hearing aid manufacturers have invested significant resources into maximizing the clarity of speech above all else. In order to make certain voices can be heard clearly even in a noisy room, advanced technology and algorithms are packed inside of modern hearing aids.
- Hearing aids are made to select and boost specific frequencies of sound. That’s because people normally lose their hearing one wavelength at a time. Either high-frequency sounds or low-frequency sounds typically vanish first. Rather than making everything louder, hearing aids work to plug holes in what you’re hearing. This selective approach is much more beneficial for people with hearing loss.
To put it bluntly, properly managing hearing loss depends on these features. In most cases, personal amplifiers don’t have these features.
Finding the best solution at an affordable price
Along with a decreased ability to hear, untreated hearing loss can also lead to cognitive decline. With amplifiers, you’re likely to do more damage to your hearing because the device doesn’t differentiate frequencies and will most likely turn everything up to unsafe levels. And who wants to do that?
Right now, the only recommended treatments for hearing loss, if it’s not a result of earwax, are certain surgeries and hearing aids. You won’t save any money in the long run by failing to get treatment for your hearing loss. General healthcare costs have been found to increase by more than 40% with neglected hearing loss. The good news is, there are affordable solutions. Just ask us.
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References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077