SHOULD YOU UPGRADE YOUR HEARING AIDS?

In my experience over the past 31 years of wearing hearing devices and talking to other people who wear devices, people seem fall into two camps: those who replace theirs with frequent regularity (every 3-5 years) and those who buy them, wear them for 10-15 years (or more) and never give it another thought.

You might like to know that there is a third option, but we’ll get to that.

There are good reasons to upgrade regularly if you can afford the costs or if your insurance gives you that option. Technology is a rapidly changing world and every year, there are significant improvements in these tiny devices. Ai is having a huge impact on the ability to hear better in noisy environments, isolating speech from background noise. This is one of the most common complaints about hearing loss and newer technology is a game-changer in this area. Longer battery life and even health and wellness tracking are also amenities in newer versions. And with new assistive listening technology on the horizon (Auracast) to help you hear better in many more places, buying new devices would ensure compatibility with that new system.

So buy them if you can, with the guidance and wise counsel of your audiologist, but if this is not
an option, there is an alternative.

Many people don’t understand that when you buy these devices, you are also buying service. Your audiologist anticipates that you may need adjustments now and then, and it is built into the price that you will take advantage of this opportunity. Because hearing loss rarely improves, it is expected that over a period of years your hearing may change and subtle changes to the programming in your devices can make a significant difference in your listening experience.

It may not be necessary to buy new hearing aids every time you experience a change in your hearing, but taking advantage of your audiologist’s knowledge of your hearing loss and his/her ability to make program changes, can and does make a difference.

Buy new? Have adjustments made to your current devices? Those are the options.