Hearing aids hold very delicate electronics in them. From a science and engineering point of view, electronic products should not be exposed to heat, moisture, shock and dust or the chance of failure might drastically rise. Guess what, hearing aids are exposed to body heat and moisture, shock and dust all the time. You see where I am heading, right?
With the above introduction, you might be wondering how come the hearing aids don't fail every week or so. The reason is that the manufacturers have improved the reliability of the hearing aids over the past few decades to the limit that most hearing aids produced around 2020 and later comply with IP68 reliability and dust and moisture resilience standards. That is only one of the reasons that premium hearing aids are relatively expensive.
Despite all the above, just like any electronic device, the hearing aids may fail. That's when the warranty comes into play.
The introduction of over-the-counter hearing care products (OTC) in the US pushed hearing aids towards the consumer product. Most OTC hearing aids in the US come with only a 12-month warranty. This leaves the consumer exposed in the event of a failure, and likely to through the faulty hearing aids out as likely the repair cost of the OTC hearing aids will be about the same as buying a new OTC pair. Yes, a consumer mindset.
To my surprise very rarely do patients ask about the warranty period of the hearing aids. Often the price tag is the main concern and influencer in the decision process. In the UK most multi-branch high street shops such as Specsavers and Boots Hearing offer a 3-year warranty on the hearing aids they sell.
The length of the warranty period extends to 5 years when you purchase your hearing aids from independent hearing care professionals which protects your investment in hearing aids for a longer period (see HearingNow warranty terms here).
A 5-year warranty on your hearing aids becomes more important when you consider that most rechargeable hearing aids (perhaps more than 80 per cent of the hearing aids sales) start showing a decline in the battery run time in years 4 and 5. So unless you opt in for a battery-powered hearing aid, you need to be very conscious about the warranty of your hearing aids.
Do you have any concerns or questions about the warranty and aftercare of hearing aids? Please feel free to contact us or book a free online consultation through the following link.
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