Who doesn’t enjoy finding a good bargain? But you should be careful and be aware of small 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 identical. And your overall hearing and health could suffer severe repercussions if you make the wrong choice about this.
Hearing amplifiers
A hearing amplifier is a little device that, when placed in your ear, raises the volume of the sounds around you. These are generally really simple, one-dimensional devices which the government classifies as personal sound amplification devices. A hearing amplifier is like turning the volume up on the world.
These devices are generally not recommended for people with moderate to significant hearing loss because of their one-size-fits-all approach.
Hearing amplifier are not hearing aids
Once people learn that hearing amplifiers aren’t recommended for people with even moderate hearing loss, the differences between the two devices begin to become pretty stark. Obviously, 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 calibrated for your environment. The acoustics of any given place will change depending on a long list of factors. These adjustments can even be made automatically with some modern hearing aids. A dedicated device or smartphone can calibrate hearing aids that don’t do it automatically. You will avoid fewer places because you will be able to hear better in a wider variety of places as your hearing aids make minute adjustments.
- With hearing aids, only select wavelengths of sound are boosted. That’s because people tend to lose their hearing one wavelength at a time. Either high-frequency sounds or low-frequency sounds generally disappear first. Instead of making everything louder, hearing aids work to plug holes in what you’re hearing. This selective approach is much more effective for people who suffer from hearing loss.
- Hearing aids are specifically manufactured to help you understand speech. Because communication is so central in our lives and also because of the uneven way hearing loss develops, this is an essential function. So this function has been prioritized by hearing aid manufacturers who have put significant resources into improving it. In order to make sure voices can be heard clearly even in a crowded room, advanced technology and algorithms are packed inside of modern hearing aids.
To put it bluntly, properly managing hearing loss depends on these capabilities. And these are qualities that are not present in the majority of personal hearing amplifiers.
The right deal for your ears
Neglected hearing loss can lead to cognitive decline, not to mention increasingly diminished ability to hear. With amplifiers, you’re very likely to do more harm to your hearing as the device doesn’t distinguish frequencies and will most likely turn everything up to unsafe volumes. And who wants to do that?
Unless your hearing loss is being caused by earwax, hearing aids and certain surgeries are the only approved treatment options for hearing loss at this time. Neglecting hearing loss and bypassing treatment doesn’t save you money ultimately. Overall healthcare costs have been shown to increase by more than 40% with neglected hearing loss. Fortunately, there are affordable options. We can help.
References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077