Let’s talk a little bit about hearing aid technology and costs.
Why does the cost of hearing aids vary so much? What should I pay for a hearing device?
On a previous blog post, I mentioned that there are six major brands of hearing aids in the world. Every year or two, each of these six brands comes out with its latest, greatest technology. They advertise it as their premium-level hearing technology, and they market their new features to try to compete against their five competitors. We’ll call this their premium-level hearing device.
And then in a very short time, they release cheaper versions
of it. They spend all this money and all this time with their auditory engineers making a great hearing device, and then they literally take features away and market it as a cheaper version of itself.
The ONLY reason you wouldn’t want this premium technology? Money.
Price is the only reason you wouldn’t want this technology because any
other option is really a takeaway. Almost all the brands do it. They usually create four different levels of technology.
Hearing Aid Technology and Costs: The Secret Behind It
For example, they make their premium level hearing aid, and then take
away some features and produce what we call an advanced level technology. Then they take some more features away for what we call a mid-level technology. Then even more for entry-level technology.
What you’re paying for is features, up and down the road. You could argue anything less than the premium-level hearing aid that they produced is a de-feature version of the best.
One manufacturer, for example, calls it their 90 series, their 70 series, their 50 series, and their 30 series. Keep in mind again, these were all based on that 90 series product.
At HearCare Audiology, we really encourage high-end technology. We think it works so much better, and we’re just not such big fans of taking away. I think if you’re if you’re paying less money then you are paying for less technology or you’re paying for less service, which is probably the most important thing with hearing technology.
The expertise of the provider who’s fitting your hearing aids and making sure they’re following best practices makes a big difference.
Sometimes when you can get cheaper hearing aids, you take that whole component out, and then it really doesn’t matter how great the hearing aid technology is, because if they’re not fit properly with best practices, and the required measurements, then they are just not going to work well at all.
I hope I’ve shed some light on hearing aid technology and costs. At the end of the day, it’s still your decision and we’re just here to give you our recommendations and support you all the way.