Mild Hearing Loss is Not Like Mild Salsa
Mild salsa…
The word “mild” can take on a meaning of its own when thinking about “mild temperatures” or “mild salsa”. But when it comes to a mild hearing loss there is nothing mild about it. A hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear.
Mild Hearing Loss
We often hear of people accepting a mild hearing loss as if it’s normal and age appropriate. Some feel that there isn’t an urgency in addressing their hearing loss. People often forget the many reasons they came in for a hearing test when a “mild” diagnosis is made. In reality, even a mild loss can lead to cognitive decline, isolation from loved ones, loss of income due to poor job performance and many other negative side effects of untreated hearing loss.
The great news is that now is the time for better hearing. Our ears are always “on” whether we hear the sounds of everyday life or not, why would we want to delay better hearing when there is so much to enjoy?
Hearing aid technology has advanced so much that hearing aids are doing even more than clearing up conversations. They are connecting people to people.
Hearing aids are:
- Smart; Always accessing the environment, suppressing noise and learning your environment through artificial intelligence.
- Rechargeable; No more batteries to change.
- Able to connect to a smartphone to allow patients to make changes in an app and stream phone calls and music to their ears.
- Even able to translate foreign languages via the aids and phone app.
- Your personal fitness tracker, counting steps, and overall movement.
- Track the hours of daily use, social engagement and track active listening measuring to aid in aural rehabilitation.
Levine Hearing has more than 150 five star reviews online because we are your personal hearing technology experts. A hearing aid is only as good as the settings that are programmed into it, so come in for a free hearing evaluation and hearing aid demonstration to see what you have been missing.
Too bad your hearing loss is based on the amount of money you have to pay for a hearing aid. I want to be able to get the hearing aids I need according to the loss of hearing I have, not the amount of money I have to pay for them. Or without a high monthly financial payment amount….
Hi Patricia, I’m very sorry that you feel frustrated. Better hearing has a price, as do all medical services and medical equipment, and while I wish I could give hearing aids away for free, it just isn’t possible. There is a hard cost to the devices themselves, but also the professional cost for the education and aural rehabilitation that I or another professional serve you with. What many don’t realize is that hearing aids are actually computers that are analyzing and reproducing sound after research audiologists have poured millions of dollars into researching how the ear, and ultimately the brain, process sound. Often times, people compare the cost of a smartphone to that of a hearing aid, wondering why hearing aids cost so much. In reality, the cost of research and development of smartphones is spread over a much larger amount of users- 1.5 BILLION smartphones were sold in 2017. In contrast, only 15 MILLION hearing aids were sold in 2017. As “durable medical equipment”, hearing aids have no sales tax and are tax deductible. If hearing aids are truly unaffordable, there are resources that will take a look at your financial statements to qualify you for a free hearing aid through the state of North Carolina. There are some wonderful providers who can help you with this. I would encourage you to reach out to the North Carolina Department of Hearing and Health Services. https://www.ncdhhs.gov/
I wish more people would go to an independent hearing specialist to get evalauted and see the vast amounts of products available!