One of the lessons you’ve undoubtedly learned as you’ve gotten older is the difference between spending and investing. Expenditures are for things that give you short-term, usually temporary satisfaction. With investments, you expect a return over a long period of time.

With a wide range of prices, some of which are too good to be true, it might seem hard to decide whether choosing a hearing instrument is an expense or an investment. But when you see that the return on what you invest in a hearing instrument is better living in every waking moment, every day of your life, you can begin to put the costs into perspective.

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The price gamut

Hearing instruments really do run the gamut in price. They range from cheap gadgets that you can buy on impulse from a TV ad or big box store to ultra-sleek, sophisticated technology, fitted by a hearing care professional. Even with such a spread in cost, you should know that, as with most other things, you get what you pay for.

Many of the low end devices aren’t properly classified as hearing instruments at all. They’re “personal sound amplifiers,” and that’s exactly what they do: give you a volume knob for daily life. The problem is, if you’re like most people with hearing loss, volume isn’t your only problem: clarity and comprehension are just as important. So as you crank up the sound on your $14.95 Hear-O-Matic, you could be doing yourself and your hearing more harm than good.

The illusion of help

More insidious than poor sound quality is the illusion that, with low-end hearing devices, you’re helping your hearing loss. You’ve spent a little bit of money, you have a device that makes things sound different, but not really better; and you continue coping with a problem that is not going to get better as the years go by. And, more seriously, you gradually forget that there is a better way.

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The difference is on the inside

In a newspaper ad or on the internet, these gadgets can look similar to real hearing instruments. But they’re not. Modern hearing devices are the result of decades of research into the physiology of hearing loss and its impact on mental health and behavior. Oticon, for example, is a pioneer in the industry, founded more than a hundred years ago on the compassion of one man for his wife’s suffering from hearing loss. Today, with dedicated laboratories and an international research team, Oticon has pioneered many of the industry’s technology breakthroughs, and has developed a sound processing architecture that is measurably more advanced than anything else on the market. Oticon builds this knowledge into its entire product line, from the top to the bottom. Because Oticon has invested in these advantages, Oticon products are more likely to be a better investment in your hearing health.

What makes modern hearing instruments worth the investment?

Here are some of the features you’ll find in Oticon hearing instruments that you won’t find in bargain gadgets.

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They focus on speech, not sound

You may never think about this, but when you listen to a conversation, your ears are receiving not just what your partner is saying, but all the other sounds in the environment as well: the refrigerator, the birds outside, the air conditioning, the phone ringing in the next room. Your ear can’t tell any of these sounds apart. That step happens inside your brain, which has learned, since you were an infant, to sort through the wall of noise presented by your ear and pick out the subtle cues of speech. Age-related hearing loss degrades these cues, and your brain has to work that much harder to separate speech from noise. Amplifying the wall of noise, as cheap hearing aids do, simply pumps up the volume of a bad signal and distorts it even more. By contrast, Oticon’s advanced sound processing technology amplifies sound selectively so that delicate speech cues are preserved. Your brain hears more natural speech, and so you comprehend more of the conversation with less effort.

They are as personal as your hearing profile

No two ears are alike. Even your own two are different from each other. Your unique hearing profile becomes even more individual as your hearing ages and needs help from a hearing instrument. That’s why Oticon hearing instruments are designed to be programmed to fit your own individual hearing in different environments, and to adapt automatically to changing environments. This is a sophisticated and dynamic process that begins when a hearing care professional maps your hearing profile and fits your instrument to your profile and your unique lifestyle. And it continues as your hearing changes over life.

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They are miniature marvels, built to last

Oticon hearing instruments pack an amazing amount of technology—on-board computers, wireless transmitters, audio processing, power management and batteries—into a tiny package that’s discreet, light and comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Oticon products range from full-featured devices that fit behind your ear to designs that are custom molded to fit deep inside your ear canal and be completely invisible. They adjust automatically to changes in environment. They communicate wirelessly with each other and with other devices like telephones, audio equipment and computers. And they’re designed to handle the harsh environment of the human ear as well as the shocks and bumps of an energetic life. Creating a device that works well and feels good under these extreme parameters requires sophisticated design, advanced materials, and the latest in manufacturing technology. Low-end hearing instruments may seem small, but their performance is puny compared to a state-of-the-art Oticon device.

Connect with a hearing care professional

We like to think of ourselves as independent and able to cope with life on our own. But as we age, we learn when to seek professional help. Hearing loss is one of those parts of life that you don’t want to deal with alone. Why? Because hearing loss is itself an isolator, cutting you off from the support and information that naturally surround you. As you lose touch, you’re less able and less likely to seek the support that could help you. That’s why Oticon hearing devices are designed to be fitted and supported by a licensed hearing care professional. Most of the care you receive is built into the up-front cost of the device, so it’s easy and affordable to go back for service, checkups and to find out about new things that you can do with your hearing instruments. It’s more than maintenance and support: it’s a reality check with someone who understands what you’re going through and can guide you to the right choices. This partnership with a trained hearing professional is a valuable part of the investment you make in healthier hearing.

Invest in a better future

There’s a wide spectrum of options for better hearing.Your challenge as you make a choice is to make sure you’re investing in a better future, rather than spending money on something cheap and expedient that looks like help, but may be trouble. With Oticon products, the world’s best technology is available in a wide range of styles and price/performance levels. With Oticon, you get the flexibility you need to meet your own unique set of needs, on your own terms.

So why compromise when you don’t have to? Through the guidance of a hearing care professional, Oticon hearing instruments can help you make the investment to meet your hearing needs, your budget needs, and your need to stay in the game for many years to come.

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