Who doesn’t love getting a good bargain? But you should be careful and look out for little details in regards 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 serious consequences if you make the wrong decision about this.
Hearing amplifiers
A little device that goes inside of your ear, a hearing amplifier increases the volume of external sound. These tend to be quite simple, one-dimensional devices which the government classifies as personal sound amplification devices. A hearing amplifier is like cranking the volume up on the world.
Because of their one-size-fits-all strategy, hearing amplifiers are not recommended for individuals who have moderate to significant hearing loss.
Distinct difference between hearing aids and personal amplifiers
Once people learn that hearing amplifiers are not suggested for people with even modest hearing loss, the differences between the two devices start to become pretty plain. Hearing aids, obviously, are encouraged for people who suffer from hearing loss.
Both hearing aids and hearing amplifiers make things louder. But one of these devices has a much higher degree of amplification technology and sophistication.
- Hearing aids can be tuned to your environment. There are quite a few variables that will determine the exact acoustics of a space. 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. By making minute 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 wish to avoid.
- With hearing aids, only particular frequencies of sound are boosted. Because hearing loss normally advances wavelength by wavelength. Either high-frequency sounds or low-frequency sounds commonly vanish first. Hearing aids work to fill in the holes in your hearing rather than just making everything louder. For people who have hearing loss, this selective approach is more effective.
- Picking out and amplifying speech is one of the main functions of a hearing aid. Because communication is so central in our lives and also because of the uneven way hearing loss progresses, this is an essential function. Because of this, hearing aid manufacturers have invested monumental resources into improving the clarity of speech above everything else. 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 treating hearing loss depends on these features. Usually, personal amplifiers don’t have these abilities.
The right deal for your ears
Untreated hearing loss can contribute to cognitive decline, along with increasingly diminished hearing abilities. With amplifiers, you’re likely to do more damage to your hearing because the device doesn’t distinguish frequencies and will most likely turn everything up to unsafe levels. And who needs to do that?
Right now, the only recommended treatments for hearing loss, if it’s not caused by earwax, are certain surgeries and hearing aids. Neglecting hearing loss and avoiding treatment doesn’t save you money long term. Untreated hearing loss has been demonstrated to increase your overall healthcare costs more than 40 percent. The good news is, there are budget friendly options. We can help.
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References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077