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Why Are Hearing Aids So Expensive? The cost of hearing aids is a very important factor in determining what type of hearing aid is best for you as a patient. The fact is a standard linear in-the-ear hearing instrument cost $500 (per ear) in 1974 and that same hearing aid is still $500 today! But we now have new technology that gives you improved sound quality. This new technology includes programmable instruments and improvements to linear technology. These advancements cost the manufacturer money for research and development, costs that are passed along to the consumer. This is one reason hearing aids have increased in costs. Another reason is the size of the hearing aid. Today there are four main sizes or styles of hearing aids. Two have been around for many years, they are behind-the-ear and the in-the-ear models. They are usually for people with severe to profound hearing loss. Two smaller sizes have been introduced since the 1980s. They are in-the-canal and the completely-in-the-canal models.They are much smaller and less noticeable than their predecessors. These two models are for patients with mild to severe hearing loss. These use smaller components and therefore cost more to develop than the larger styles. A third reason is trial periods. Some doctors and dispensers as well as audiologists offer trial periods for their hearing aids. (Approximately 20-25%) This will also raise the cost of hearing aids. The federal government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), classifies the hearing aid as a prosthetic device. Therefore, once an in-the-ear hearing aid has been worn by a patient, it can no longer be used for any other patient. When a hearing aid is worn on a trial basis, if the patient decides he/she doesn't want the aid, it must be destroyed. These returned aids increase manufacturing costs, thus increasing the cost to the consumer. How Long Should I Wait Before I Do Something About My Hearing Loss? Don't wait! Take action now! The longer a person waits to do something about a hearing loss, the longer it will take to re-train the brain to process sounds. Keep in mind, the brain processes the signals it receives from the ears. If the signal is weakened from a hearing loss, the brain stops processing certain sounds. It then takes time to re-train the brain again to reprocess these sounds. Most people complain that it is difficult to hear when there is background noise. This is because of the type of hearing loss they experience. A high frequency hearing loss causes difficulty in separating speech from noise. The longer a person waits to get help for this hearing loss, the more difficult time they have learning again to separate speech from noise. Should I Get One or Two Hearing Aids? We hear with the brain and not the ears. The brain is wired to receive input from both ears. Assuming you have a loss in both ears, two hearing aids should be selected for the following reasons: You need less power when you wear two hearing aids. Stereo listening gives depth perception. Two ears gives us the ability to localize where sounds are coming from (which may keep us out of harm's way)! Better understanding requires both ears. Two ears hear better in noise. What Causes a Hearing Loss? The majority of hearing losses are a result of aging, called presbycusis. Other causes: prolonged exposure to loud noises, certain types of illness, ototoxic medications, heredity, middle ear pathology or ear wax. I Can Hear, But Why Don't I Understand? For most people hearing loss occurs gradually and affects the high frequencies first. Because of this, clarity of speech is hindered and our brains no longer receive a clear signal from the ears. Speech consists of vowel and consonant sounds. Vowel sounds carry 95% of the sound energy in speech. These sounds are low pitch and they let the brain know someone is talking. However, only 5% of speech intelligibility comes from these vowel sounds. Consonant sounds are higher pitch, carry 5% of speech energy, but contain 95% of speech intelligibility. Again the majority of individuals with hearing loss have a loss in the high pitches. Therefore they are missing many consonant sounds in speech and they report that most people sound like they mumble when they talk. The more background or competing noise these individuals encounter, the more difficult comprehension becomes. The best situation in which to listen and understand occurs when three key elements are in harmony. These elements are the speaker, the environment, and the listener. If the speaker, or we as the listener, are not ready to perform the task, are having a bad day, are tired, not feeling well, etc. all of these aspects affect our performance as listeners or speakers. If the environment we are in is a large room, a small room, has a lot of hard surfaces, has carpet, is outside, etc., the signal reaching the ears and being processed by the brain is also affected. It is vital that we do everything to ensure as clear a signal as possible is transmitted from the ears to the brain. However, if our ears are no longer functioning as they once did, we need to take measure to correct the problem. For many this includes being fit with the proper hearing instruments following a complete diagnostic hearing evaluation.
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