Buying a hearing aid is an important moment in the life of every patient with hearing loss. A person returns to a happy life, a life full of amazing sounds and the voices of loved ones. However, choosing and buying a hearing aid is not an easy task. It requires the right approach. Can I choose my own medical devices? Is it possible to buy them without consulting an audiologist? No, and here’s why!
Why can’t you choose hearing aids on your own?
Today, many citizens are increasingly trying to solve their health problems on their own. The availability of information on the Internet, medical blogs, and thematic websites encourage people to choose medicines and treatment methods on their own. The same behavior is typical for people with hearing loss. Surprisingly, many patients do not seek help until the situation becomes very difficult. Thus, they lose precious time for treatment. This also applies to the purchase of hearing aids.
People dealing with hearing aids for the first time are sure that buying a medical device is a simple matter. For them, it’s like buying headphones in a popular marketplace. Some people want to give hearing aids to their hearing-impaired relatives. However, this is a big mistake!
Hearing aids are complex electronic devices. Only hearing care professionals can understand some of the characteristics and nuances. If you do not have medical education, experience, and special equipment, then you will not be able to find suitable hearing aids. I’ll try to explain everything in more detail.
Individual settings taking into account the characteristics of the body
Choosing a hearing aid is a complex process. It requires certain knowledge and consideration of some nuances. To calculate the power of medical devices, it is necessary to determine the degree of hearing loss.
Then, the doctor takes into account the wishes of the patient, his hobbies, and lifestyle, so that the patient would feel comfortable in any situation. For example, if you like to run in the morning and you have moderate hearing loss, then intra-channel devices are perfect for you.
Out of the box, hearing aids have factory settings, so the devices must be configured according to the individual characteristics of the patient. Yes, each patient has a unique structure of hearing organs and nuances of hearing loss. Setup requires knowledge, experience, and special equipment. In addition, do not forget about the adaptation period. The advice of the attending audiologist will help you quickly and painlessly survive the period of adaptation. You won’t be able to fulfill all the conditions yourself.
Do not confuse hearing aids with hearing amplifiers!
Thanks to the development of digital services, more and more citizens are buying various goods, including electronics, online. Indeed, it is profitable (prices are usually lower than in a classic store) and convenient (for example, delivery of goods to the house). Unsurprisingly, many are looking for hearing aids for sale online.
The desired model can be easily found on popular marketplaces or specialized online stores that cooperate with manufacturers of hearing aids. The choice of trading platforms is huge. But here lies the danger, especially for those who have decided to choose and buy a hearing aid without consulting a specialist. What exactly is it about? These are auditory amplifiers.
One of the reasons why people are looking for hearing aids online is the desire to save money. Therefore, many are attracted by advertising and low price. They look like hearing aids. Most often on such products, there is a description of sound amplification. It misleads an inexperienced user who is facing hearing aids for the first time. Succumbing to the trick of marketers, a person buys hearing amplifiers instead of hearing aids. What’s next?
Hearing amplifiers are electronic devices. They amplify all external sounds. They are used in certain situations when it is necessary to amplify sounds, for example, at a lecture in a spacious auditorium. But they do not restore hearing and do not help to recognize sounds!
In turn, hearing aids are complex medical devices. Their task is to help recognize certain external sounds. Hearing aids amplify some sounds and reduce others (it depends on the individual characteristics of the patient), and as a result of which a person understands external sounds. Hearing aids restore the ability to hear normally and react to the outside world!
What characteristics should I pay attention to?
Hearing aids are complex medical devices with many basic and additional characteristics. What should I pay attention to when selecting a device?
Type of hearing aid. Audiologists distinguish several types of devices. They differ in appearance, a set of characteristics, and, most importantly, power:
- Behind The Ear
- Receiver In The Canal
- In The Canal
- In The Ear
The power of the devices. Hearing aids should amplify sounds enough to not only compensate for hearing loss but also give a certain margin, in case hearing changes over the years.
A number of channels. Current models have up to 64 channels. The more of them, the higher the signal quality and intelligibility of the voice. A channel is a range of audio frequencies in which the gain can be adjusted.
Noise suppression. The more sophisticated the noise suppression system is, the more intelligible speech is in various noisy situations, for example, on the street, in a cinema, or cafe.
Feedback cancellation. The function is important for those who do not want the device to be visible. The system smooths out harsh sounds when the signal is amplified. This is a very important parameter. It helps to remove the feeling of echo and inner voice while using the devices.
This is only part of the characteristics and functions of modern hearing aids. As you can see, only an experienced specialist can understand all the nuances of selecting and configuring medical devices.
How to choose hearing aids?
As mentioned above, hearing aids are electronic medical devices. The audiologist selects and adjusts them for each patient individually. The devices have a lot of characteristics and additional functions, so the only correct solution when buying electronic assistants is a consultation with a hearing care professional. The doctor will conduct all the necessary studies and on their basis will choose the most suitable devices. You’ll only have to buy the one you like from the proposed models and start using them!
Leave a comment