Repair the Hearing Aid or Buy a New One?

For anyone with hearing loss, hearing aids are an essential support tool on a day-to-day basis: this prosthesis gives us independence, and security and allows us to go about our day-to-day activities with the utmost peace of mind.

Like any other device, hearing aids have a certain lifespan or they break. When this happens, we can consider two options: buy a new one or repair the damaged hearing aid.

The price is a frequent question that resolves this dilemma, and each option offers its own advantages and disadvantages. We look at both options so you can decide what you should do, whether to buy a new hearing aid or get yours repaired.

1. Repair the hearing aid, is it worth it?

The hearing aids are made with durable technology, designed to last in perfect condition for a long time. However, it is inevitable that at some point it will drop, we will hit it or one of its components will fail.

It is possible that some hearing centers and in some specific cases they don’t recommend any hearing aid repairs and instead buy a new one, especially in centers that do not offer a repair service, the hearing aid has become really unusable or when they do not sell it with the brand that manufactures our prosthesis.

1. 1 Advantage of repairing the old hearing aid

Repairing our old hearing aid has many advantages, among others we can highlight that:

• It represents an economic saving: repairing the hearing aid is always a profitable investment. Also, if your prosthesis is still under warranty, your hearing center will not charge you a penny for its repair.
• Sometimes the repair is just a matter of changing a damaged part, and the main brands of hearing aids always have replacement parts available.
• Any hearing aid can be repaired. Although in some cases the hearing aids can be really unusable, the main brands guarantee the replacement parts available for a long period of time.
• We keep our hearing aid. Repairing your hearing aid allows you to enjoy the device with which we are already accustomed for much longer, and starting a new adaptation process can be really tedious.

Hearing aid repair is the smartest and most recommended option, according to a popular hearing center that has a hearing aid repair service since, as they say, “it will always be cheaper than buying a new one.”

2. Why buy a new hearing aid

It is clear that buying a hearing aid is also a good option, especially when we need more and better features and are looking for more advanced technology, such as Bluetooth or a rechargeable battery.

It is good news to have a new prosthesis: the bad thing is that we will have to do the adaptation process from scratch. Maintaining the habit of a new hearing aid naturally takes time, but if you have just adapted your hearing aid and you still hear poorly, go to your hearing center to find a solution.

In addition, it will mean a greater outlay of money to buy the hearing aid than to repair the damaged hearing aid.

It may be the recommended option if our current hearing aid is already many years old, especially if we have not carried out good maintenance or it already has several damages to the casing. However, this decision will depend on the economic budget you can afford.

3. Buying a hearing aid vs repairing mine, what should I do?

The dilemma is between repairing the old one or buying a new one, which is the best option?

• Buying a new hearing aid costs more money, but it will allow us to have a good current modern hearing aid and a spare hearing aid for what may happen in the future.
• It may involve a large financial outlay, but it is still an investment in your hearing health, and taking care of it and keeping it in top shape is key to preventing any possible pathology.
• Repairing the old one, both to continue using it and to keep it as a “spare” is a much smaller investment. Both using it as a replacement for a current hearing aid will save us all the tedious adaptive process of the prosthesis.