Can You Put a Price on Hearing Health?

A good hearing aid is an investment in both financial and health terms. It might be tempting to let price guide your purchase, but this can be a false economy. Remember you will wear this device every day for the next five years and so it makes sense to match the devices capabilities to your needs. To help you understand the value a good hearing aid represents let’s look at the issues of cost. 

What Does a Hearing Device Cost?

One of the first questions individuals have about hearing devices is the range of prices. These start from around $800 for a more basic device with a mid-range, highly capable device costing around $2,000, and up to $4,000 or more for a top-grade model. However, it’s important to be aware of all the value associated with the price tag. This isn’t just about purchasing a physical device, but also the expertise and support to go with it.

For example, the cost typically includes fitting, initial programming and adjustments. This ensures the device is so comfortable that you forget you are wearing it, and that it’s perfectly tuned to your listening needs. In addition it covers follow up appointments for fine-tuning and adjustments, so you are always guaranteed maximum hearing. There will also generally be a warranty, from one to three years, and some models come with a free replacement warranty if something happens to the device during the first year of use.

Added to that is the breakdown of the cost on a per-day basis, which for a top device is equivalent to the cost of a coffee-shop coffee a day, and you begin to see the value.

Why the Difference in Price?

You are purchasing a piece of technology and the difference in cost is accounted for by the sophistication of that technology and the advantages some styles have over others.

For example, basic hearing aids simply pick up sound via a microphone and amplify it into your ear. Compare this with highly sophisticated devices that convert the sound wave into a digital signal and ‘clean it up’ with functions that remove background noise. Indeed, a good digital hearing aid can connect wirelessly to your phone or TV for perfect listening comfort on that call or during your favorite program.

You can think of this as the difference between a dial-up landline telephone and the latest smartphone that is also a mini computer. Both take phone calls but one offers so much more freedom and flexibility.

Style is another important consideration. Miniaturization means the ability to develop tiny (but powerful) hearing devices that sit completely within the ear canal. If discretion is a priority that option is now open to you, however, such technology is costly to develop and produce so this is reflected in the price. You need to decide: What price would you put on your hearing?