Buying hearing aids

Once you have been diagnosed as hard of hearing and the doctor or ENT specialist have determined that you can benefit from the use of a hearing aid then you have to decided if you are going to have your hearing aid on the NHS service or go private and purchase your own. If you choose to go with the NHS then they will usually provide you with a high quality digital hearing aid though there will usually be a long waiting list. If you choose to go private then there are more choices open to you, if you go privately then a hearing aid will cost anything from £600 to £3,500.

Questions you should ask

A hearing aid is very costly so you should make sure you know what options are available to you and ask any questions you can think of before committing to buying a hearing aid. Some of the questions you should ask are:

• Does your medical insurance cover the cost of the hearing aid?
• Does the quote for the hearing aid cover the cost of the test?
• Does the quote include any follow ups that you might need?
• If you need a hearing aid for both ears is there a discount?
• Will you be able to see the dispenser quickly if you have problems in the future with the hearing aid?
• Never sign anything unless you know exactly what you’re getting for your money.

Always makes sure you know what it entails when buying your hearing aid, usually the hearing aid will be covered under a warranty and this can be anything from one to three years then after this period you will have to pay for repairs. As they can be so expensive it is often worth taking out insurance on your hearing aid for loss or damage and you should check with your insurance company to make sure it is covered under any existing policy you may have.

Choosing a hearing aid

There are many different types of hearing aid and they usually fall under the category of digital or analogue, there are very small hearing aids which fit entirely into the ear and cannot be seen or there are ones that are fitted behind the ear. Not all types are suitable for everyone for example the smaller hearing aid with many features could be fiddly for someone with large hands, the smaller types might also not be suitable for someone suffering from severe hearing loss.

Features of hearing aids

With the advancements being made today hearing aids now come packed with many features these range from being able to change the hearing aid to different environments, for example a noisy club to a quiet room, to automatically controlling feedback from the hearing aid. Of course digital ones such as these are very expensive so you should take into account if you would really benefit from a feature packed hearing aid.