We all enjoy a good bargain. But you should be careful and be aware of small details when it comes to your health.

We know, it’s confusing, the names are pretty similar, but hearing aids and hearing amplifiers are not equivalent. And making the wrong choice could have important ramifications for your hearing and your overall health.

Hearing amplifiers

A little device that goes in your ear, a hearing amplifier raises the volume of outside sound. These are generally very simple, one-dimensional devices which the government classifies as personal sound amplification devices. The volume of the world is essentially turned up.

These devices are typically not suggested for people with moderate to severe hearing loss because of their one-size-fits-all approach.

Distinct difference between hearing aids and personal amplifiers

Once people learn that hearing amplifiers aren’t recommended for people with even moderate hearing loss, the differences between the two devices start to become rather plain. Hearing aids, obviously, are recommended for individuals with hearing loss.

Both kinds of devices can raise the volume of outside sound. The main difference between the two devices is how sophisticated that amplification is.

• Hearing aids can be calibrated for your environment. There are numerous variables that will determine the specific acoustics of a space. These adjustments can even be made automatically with some modern hearing aids. A dedicated device or smartphone can tune hearing aids that don’t do it automatically. By making small adjustments to the settings of your hearing aid, you’re able to hear better in a wider variety of settings, meaning there will be fewer locations you want to avoid.
• Hearing aids are specifically designed to help you comprehend speech. Because communication is so essential in our lives and also because of the irregular way hearing loss progresses, this is an essential function. As a result, hearing aid makers have invested monumental resources into enhancing the clarity of speech above everything else. In order to make certain voices come through clearly even in a noisy room, sophisticated technology and algorithms are bundled inside of modern hearing aids.
• With hearing aids, only particular wavelengths of sound are amplified. Because hearing loss normally progresses frequency by frequency. Frequencies at the higher and lower end of the scale are generally the first to go. Hearing aids work to fill in the gaps in your hearing rather than just making everything louder. This selective approach is far more effective for individuals with hearing loss.

To put it bluntly, properly managing hearing loss depends on these features. Usually, personal amplifiers don’t have these features.

Finding the best option at an affordable price

Neglected hearing loss can bring about cognitive decline, not to mention increasingly diminished ability to hear. With amplifiers, you’re likely to do more harm to your hearing because the device doesn’t differentiate frequencies and will most likely turn everything up to unsafe volumes. 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 at this time. You won’t save any money long term by neglecting to get treatment for your hearing loss. Neglected hearing loss has been shown to increase your overall healthcare costs over 40%. Fortunately, there are affordable options. Just ask us.

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References

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077