If you’ve used hearing aid benefits to buy hearing aids, you already know how instrumental it was in helping you afford your first set of hearing aids. However, what you may not realize is that your hearing aid benefit will actually become more valuable to you over time as it allows you to continually address your changing hearing needs.
For some people, their hearing aids work great and there’s no need to make a new purchase. For others though, there are good reasons to consider a change in hearing aids. And if your benefit has renewed, affording an upgrade is much more realistic. How do you know if you should take advantage of your renewed hearing aid benefit? Here are some reasons you might consider.
1) Your Changing Lifestyle
First of all, achieving better hearing is an ongoing process, and your lifestyle is constantly changing. In fact, your life might look vastly different today than it did just a few years ago. Your health, your family situation, and even your social needs are all factors that can prompt you to look for new and different ways to address your hearing loss. A hearing aid benefit that renews allows you to try new hearing aids that address your changing hearing needs.
2) New Technology
The hearing aid industry doesn’t seem to get much sleep. Every year, newer, better hearing aids are developed using cutting edge technology. Just a few years ago, it was impossible to control your hearing aid settings and volume from your smartphone. Today, there are a wide variety of smartphone hearing aids that wirelessly connect to your mobile device so you can do amazing things, like take phone calls right from your hearing aids, have music from your phone go straight to your ears without any wires or Bluetooth devices, or even get map directions from your phone directly into your ears while you drive. This new technology can give you more freedom and allows you to live life with hearing aids unencumbered by a host of accessories.
Side note: We’ll be talking more about smartphone hearing aids in the coming months. If you’re interested in the increased functionality and freedom smartphone hearing aids can provide, be on the lookout for upcoming newsletters.
3) Clearer Sound Quality and a More Comfortable Fit
The unfortunate reality is that some people buy hearing aids but never really put them to good use. For these hearing aid users, they may do an initial trial period then simply put them in a drawer and forget about them. One of the beauties of a hearing aid benefit is that it allows you to try again with a product that suits you better.
Since you purchased your first pair, your hearing changed may have change, but hearing aids certainly have improved—even if it was just a few years ago that you got your last pair. Today’s hearing aids have more channels, improved noise reduction, advanced feedback suppression, and even a more comfortable fit in your ear. All these advances make it easier to address your unique hearing needs and customize the hearing aids to your specific hearing profile. Newer hearing aids offer a better level of customization, which means it’ll be easier for you to adapt to them than the hearing aids that may be sitting in your dresser drawer. If you have a hearing aid benefit, you have the ability to try out the better sound quality and fit of newer devices that have the potential to change your life in ways your current hearing aids could not.
4) Replace Underperforming Hearing Aids
Like most electronics, the performance of your hearing aids may decline over time. Dust, moisture, and everyday wear and tear can lead your hearing aids to simply not work as well as they used to. Nothing lasts forever, and the inevitable decline of your current hearing aids is one of the reasons your health plan offers you a benefit. They know your hearing aids won’t function as well after a few years, so your benefit is there to make sure you are always addressing your hearing needs in the best way possible.
5) Better Hearing Aids and Lower Prices
Since you’ve already purchased hearing aids through TruHearing, you know that combining your benefit with our prices saved you a pretty penny. But we’ll never be satisfied with simply offering you a one-time savings on hearing aids. That’s why we continually work with our manufacturing partners and providers to find ways to bring down the cost of hearing aids for members of our partner health plans.
In fact, over the last few years we’ve substantially lowered the cost of our hearing aids to the point that you could get a better hearing aid today than you could three or four years ago for roughly the same price. For example, if you originally bought a standard-level hearing aid, today you’re likely able to get an advanced-level hearing aid with more features and better quality for the same price—or one that’s even better for just a little extra cost. In some cases, your hearing aid benefit may even cover the entire cost of a better hearing aid. If you’re wondering about our price improvements and how to get the most bang for your buck with your benefit, give us a call and one of our Hearing Consultants can help you out.
The Lifetime Value of a Hearing Aid Benefit
A hearing aid benefit provides much more value than a one-time reduction in the out-of-pocket costs for your first pair of hearing aids. The full value of a hearing aid benefit comes over time as it allows you to continually address your changing hearing loss profile with better hearing aids at lower costs. In turn, you can hear better over time, allowing you to improve your relationships and quality of life.
If you have—or think you have—a hearing aid benefit and want to address your changing lifestyle and hearing needs, give us a call. We can check with your health plan to see if your benefit has renewed and help you find a solution to address your changing needs.
Another article you may be interested in: When Should I Upgrade My Hearing Aids?