3 Financial Reasons to Visit the Audiologist

Which do you prefer: A make-do-and-mend fix or an enduring, carefully crafted repair?

While a quick fix may be appropriate to mend a broken shoe, it’s far from ideal for something as pivotal as your hearing health. Of course you may be attracted to stores offering discounted hearing aids, but in reality this is liable to be a costly mistake. After all, if you break bones in your foot you wouldn’t look to a shoe salesman to fix the fracture, but a qualified orthopedic surgeon.

In a similar way, a hearing aid dispenser can sell you a hearing device, but only an audiologist (a healthcare professional with an advanced degree in hearing health) is qualified to fully diagnose and rectify your hearing deficit. With this in mind let’s look at why it makes financial sense to visit an audiologist.

1. Cause and effect

Thinking on our feet again, consider that broken metatarsal bone that makes walking difficult. You could of course buy a looser pair of shoes, but the better option is to visit the orthopaedic surgeon to get the bone set.

An audiologist is the hearing equivalent of that orthopaedic surgeon, because they not only measure the extent of a hearing deficit, but can diagnose the underlying cause. In some cases this opens up avenues for treatment that mean either a hearing device is no longer necessary or the rate of hearing loss is stalled.

2. A false start

In the past, a hearing aid dispenser supplied a device which now languishes unused in a drawer. Perhaps you found the dials too fiddly to adjust or had to remove it because you work in a dusty environment. Suddenly that ‘cheap’ device is anything but a wise buy.

You can avoid such costly mistakes by visiting an audiologist. They look at all aspects of your life, including dexterity, work, hobbies and where you find it most difficult to hear, in order to supply a device you’ll feel comfortable and confident using.

So while that device may not be the cheapest on the market, when you wear it regularly the cost becomes less than a carryout coffee per day.

3. Improved earning potential

Sadly, it is a fact that untreated hearing loss impacts earning potential. Those people with untreated hearing loss tend not to earn as much as a professional with normal hearing. The good news is that correcting hearing loss can reverse this downward trend and get your earning potential back on track.

If you want to keep your hearing aids discreet, your audiologist can help. They have an extensive knowledge of many different devices and can suggest the most invisible aids that are available to you based on your wants, needs and hearing loss severity.

And finally, only you can choose between the quick fix and a lasting solution, but it pays to know that a short-term saving may not offer best value in the long run.