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Past Beltone blog posts have discussed hearing tests and how people can find out if they might need a hearing aid. One related question that often comes up is whether people who need hearing aids can “test drive” them. Shoppers can test drive cars, beds, and many other products that they might want to buy, and through Beltone, they can now test hearing aids as well.
“Test driving” hearing aids is a major feature of Beltone’s business, because the last thing that we want is for customers to feel like they’ve bought a hearing aid without knowing everything possible about it. A set of good hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars, which means that people need to know exactly what they are getting before they buy one. For that reason, we’ve invested heavily in our demo or trial program.
Some people have had a hearing test, have been encouraged by their spouse or family members to get a hearing aid, and know that they need one, but do not know what kind they want or what level of technology they really need. Beltone will fit them with a demo set of loaner hearing aids, using the regular process involved in buying a brand new set. Customers are then allowed to take them home and get an idea of how they would feel if they bought them.
Being able to use a trial set of hearing aids lets a person know how they work in a familiar environment, whether at home, at church, at a sporting event, in a business meeting with clients, or at a favourite restaurant. It is impossible to test out a hearing aid in an unfamiliar room or office and know how it will work in a more familiar situation. That’s why Beltone has invested tens of thousands of dollars in demonstration hearing aids that people can take home.
Through this program, customers can try out hearing aids in their own environments and then come back to have them fine-tuned when something sounds unusual or is louder than they hoped. Sometimes people find that volumes are too quiet or that their hearing aid doesn’t filter a sound in the way that they thought it would. Beltone can then customize their experience and make sure that before they make a major investment, they have a hearing aid that offers exactly what works best for them. People need to know whether the hearing aid that fits in with their budget works as well as they expected. They typically come back in a couple of weeks after their initial fitting for a follow-up, and, after having the adjustments that they need made, try out the new setup for another couple of weeks.
A properly fitted hearing aid, for a person that has reasonable expectations of what it will do, will not only make the person feel very natural, but allow them to hear better than a person with normal hearing could, which is a great feeling for someone who’s suffered for years with hearing loss and has finally made the decision to deal with it.
If you are interested in trying out Beltone’s demo program or would just like more information on how it works, visit AskBeltone.com, or come in and have a talk with the specialists at our centres. If you know someone who you think could really use the information in this blog, please send them a link and let them know about what we can do for them.
