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Health & Fitness

Tips on choosing the right hearing aid

People who are newly diagnosed with hearing loss have an immediate and daunting challenge to face:  which hearing aid is right for them?   Dr. Sheri Billing of The Hearing Doctors in Wheaton, Ill. provides some tips to help patients and their caregivers make a better decision:

 “It’s important to marry the right technology with the patient’s needs,” said Billing.  Hearing aids are typically small and have controls that may be difficult for some patients to work so many audiologists perform a lifestyle assessment to ensure the patient can handle the hearing aid and work its controls.

 Billing also recommended a number of other tips to help patients make the right hearing aid choice:

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• Test drive your hearing aid – ask your audiologist if you can wear the hearing aid for a test period to see if it works well and can be easily adjusted in your listening environments.

• Long-term adjustments—hearing loss can often get worse over time so ask your audiologist if the hearing aid she recommend can be adjusted to account for future hearing loss.

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• Check for a warranty. Make sure the hearing aid includes a warranty that covers both parts and labor for a specified amount of time.
• If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is. Hearing aids aren’t cures for hearing loss so be on the lookout for unsubstantiated or misleading claims.
• Choose a hearing aid for your budget – hearing aid costs can vary dramatically depending on which device you choose. Check your insurance benefits to determine what benefit you have. Also many audiologists provide no interest, or low interest financing, or if you are a veteran, you may be eligible for hearing aid benefits.

Ultimately, a hearing aid is often only as good as the audiologist who recommends it. Billing recommends patients select an audiologist who will work closely with them and stand behind the technology.

To see the rest of the news release with a video, click on this link:  http://bit.ly/17ZrM0V.

To make an appointment with Dr. Billing, contact her office at 630.752.9505.

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