Hearing News

Nearly Half Of AARP-ASHA Survey Respondents Say Their Hearing Is Getting Worse, But Majority Fail To Take Action

Why do so many people who know their hearing is getting worse fail to seek treatment? That question screams from the remarkable survey results just released by AARP and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASLH).

There are a number of answers, but according to the survey, the high cost of hearing aids and inadequate insurance coverage for hearing-loss treatment (or lack of health insurance entirely) are high on the list of reasons people don’t seek out help for their hearing problems.

Check out some of the results of the survey of AARP members:

• While 88 percent said they had their vision tested in the past five years, less than half that number, 43 percent, had their hearing checked.
• But in the same period, nearly half (46 percent) said their hearing has gotten worse, with 61 percent saying they have difficulty following conversations in noisy situations.
• And even though 85 percent said maintaining hearing health is of great importance to them personally, 57 percent of respondents with hearing difficulties said they are not seeking treatment.
• Why do they fail to seek treatment? Here’s the kicker: “Nearly two-thirds of poll respondents (63 percent) cite health insurance coverage limitations, concerns about cost, and lack of health insurance as reasons for not getting treatment for hearing difficulties.”

AARP is the world’s biggest organization for people over the age of 50, and when it zeroes in on an issue it can move mountains. What would happen if AARP got on the hearing-loss bandwagon in a big way? Would we see more insurance companies providing coverage for hearing aids? Would we see more pressure on hearing-aid manufacturers to provide more affordable solutions?

Unfortunately, there may be an even bigger problem than high costs and lack of insurance coverage for the failure of people to seek out help. The survey also reveals there’s still a tremendous fear of the stigma that, rightly or wrongly, so many people associate with hearing loss. When you read the full report on the results (click here to download the PDF), you see too many troubling mentions of survey respondents wanting to “cover up” evidence of their hearing loss:

Fifty-seven percent of those with untreated hearing problems say their problems don’t warrant treatment and are easy enough to “cover up.” The foremost reason for not seeking treatment is a perception that their hearing issue isn’t severe enough – that they are getting by without treatment. They seem to have found ways that they believe cover up their hearing issues, and do not see a connection to an improved quality of life that treatment may provide.

Maybe the best result of the AARP focus on the hearing-loss issue will be a reduction in the stigma associated with hearing aids and a greater acceptance by the over-50 Baby Boomer set of the notion that a little help with their hearing could go a long way. But I’m not holding my breath!

Is Denmark The Silicon Valley Of Sound? Or Is It Minnesota?

Ever since my years in Silicon Valley, I’ve been fascinated by “business clusters,” regional locations where a critical mass of skills, technology, capital, and other factors combine to create world-leading expertise in a specific product, service, market or technology. For the hearing aid business, the area surrounding Copenhagen is one such cluster, home to three of the world’s five top hearing aid manufacturers.

So here’s my question: Is Denmark the “Silicon Valley of Sound”? Or is it Minnesota, home to Starkey Laboratories, another of the big five and a regional center that has spun off and still supports multiple hearing aid and hearing technology companies? Or perhaps it is Northern New Jersey, another U.S. location where multiple global hearing aid companies have set up shop.

The question hit me this past weekend as we explored the upscale Central West End in St. Louis and wandered into 10denza, a fashion-forward retail outlet “where pop culture, modern city style, music and media converge.” My wife Barbara and I were immediately drawn to a display of fashionable headphones and ear buds. There was some funky hip-hop head ware, but two understated products from Danish manufacturer AIAIAI caught my eye. The ear buds were sleek but simple, and the lightweight Tracks headphones were minimalist to the extreme. When Barbara tried them out, the sound quality blew her away. Sure enough, when I looked at the fine print on the Apple-quality packaging, I saw they were designed in Denmark.

AIAIAI’s web site provides as good a definition of a business/design cluster as any academic treatise I’ve read on the subject:

Headquartered in Copenhagen, AIAIAI is proud to contribute to Denmark’s worldwide reputation as leader in acoustic and electro- acoustic design and engineering. Informed by a heritage of Scandinavian design, AIAIAI strives to create high quality, accessible audio products that deliver value far beyond trend-driven aesthetics. AIAIAI boasts a world-renowned network of industrial designers, audio technicians and DJs as part of its unique and highly collaborative development process. Exploratory and experimental, the process enables AIAIAI to develop new products on the leading edge, independent of current market trends.

Here we have a small, high-tech, high-fashion product designer based in Copenhagen extolling the virtues of Denmark’s leadership in acoustic and electro-acoustic design and engineering, something that springs directly from the local hearing aid industry. It’s a perfect example of the combination of creativity and product quality that bubbles up from the entrepreneurial cauldron of a successful business cluster. The picture of their design studio made me think of Frog Design, the small Silicon Valley studio that Steve Jobs and Apple put on the map years ago. The key is the phrase “delivering value beyond trend-driven esthetics.” Making a beautiful form convey superior function is what great design is all about, and you can’t get there unless it’s based on great technology.

The three Danish hearing aid companies driving the audio technology innovation are Widex, a venerable family-owned hearing aid company; the William Demant Holding Group, parent of Oticon and Bernafon hearing-aid brands as well as the Sennheiser high-tech headphone manufacturer; and GN Store Nord, parent of global hearing aid manufacturer GN ReSound and headset manufacturer GN Netcom, maker of the popular Jabra Bluetooth headsets and other consumer-tech audio products. Together they have created a critical mass of expertise in sound engineering that is starting to drive the regional economy along with the success of consumer electronics companies like AIAIAI and another well-known high-end consumer audio company, Bang & Olufsen.

Are there other regions around the world worthy of wearing the “Silicon Valley of Sound” crown? Minnesota, home to Starkey Laboratories and numerous other high-tech audio companies, is one. And Northern New Jersey is home to the U.S. headquarters of Siemens Hearing Instruments, to the U.S. operations of Oticon, and to the global sales and marketing operations of Panasonic Hearing Aids. In North America, where less than a third of the market of more than 35-million consumers who need hearing aids have purchased them so far, you may someday see such a boom in market demand that either of those locations will become the new Silicon Valley of Sound. And you can’t count out Stafa Switzerland, home of the largest hearing-aid manufacturing holding company in the world, Sonova Group, either.

For the time being, however, my vote is for Denmark as the official Silicon Valley of Sound. What’s yours?

Panasonic’s New JZ Power Hearing System Brings Back “Body-Worn” Hearing Aids In A Sleek New High-Tech Package

Panasonic has given new life to a very old idea–”body-worn” hearing aids–with the new Panasonic JZ Power hearing system. But the new Panasonic product is unlike those original hearing aids of more than 50 years ago, which required a cumbersome sound processing unit hanging from the neck, wired to bulky, unattractive hearing aids that by today’s standards provided no more than very simple linear amplification.

The Panasonic JZ Power system is more like a sleek Apple iPod, with a nice set of high-tech ear buds that provide stereo sound amplified to your exact hearing profile. The next step up from the original Panasonic JZ hearing system, the Panasonic JZ Power has five channels instead of three and a frequency range from 200 to 6400 Hz, a major expansion in fitting range over the original JZ’s 220 t0 4300 Hz range.

Available in blue, black and silver, the Panasonic JZ Power is a palm-sized unit featuring an LCD screen, noise reduction, wind noise management, feedback management, left-right balance, a slide power switch and easily accessible volume control, and four “Scene Selector” program settings for standard, music, party and indoors listening environments. The stereo binaural headset (earphone with microphones) is designed to comfortably fit into the ear canal and stay in place for long hours of wear. The JZ Power also includes a rechargeable battery with a charging cradle for the main unit, which can also use commercial AAA alkaline batteries.

“Panasonic is committed to a series of unique hearing solutions using the JZ form factor,” said Delain D. Wright, Director of Sales, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Healthcare Group. “With the new JZ Power Panasonic can help an even broader segment of the hearing impaired who are challenged by the difficulty of managing traditional hearing instruments.”

Unbundling Hearing Aid Sales From Professional Services Catches On But Causes Confusion Among Audiologists

I got lot of mail about my last post on shopping for hearing aids and on how bundling of hearing exams into the end price of a hearing-aid sale can make consumers less likely to try multiple brands before buying.

As it happens, unbundling is a hot topic in the hearing aid business right now. With consumers and hearing-loss support associations advocating for more transparency in the hearing aid sales process, audiologists are looking for new approaches to fitting hearing aids and providing follow-up service. But breaking new ground by moving from the older tried-and-true approach can be a challenging and confusing task, especially as more hearing aid brands come on the market and patients start asking for more information about the differences.

“Unbundling…is not straightforward and interfaces with many other challenges in health care,” one audiologist wrote me. “There are many models, and many of us are going nuts trying to figure it out!”

The problem for the audiologist is getting paid for all the amount of care required in the fitting and follow-up. Charging one price for an expensive pair of hearing aids and providing comprehensive service before, during and after the fitting is an attractive model.

With bundled sales and service, the hearing aid manufacturer sells the hearing aids to the audiologist at a wholesale price, and the audiologist marks up the retail price to compensate for extensive service. The process is simple for consumers, who just have to pay for the hearing aids — when the process works well they get all the service they need. The downside, however, is that consumers don’t know exactly what they are paying for. They don’t know how much the hearing exam costs, how much the fitting costs, how much the earmolds (if needed) cost, and how much the hearing aids themselves cost. Very often the consumer can’t even name the brand or manufacturer of the hearing aids they are wearing, other than to say “They’re what my audiologist gave me.” It makes comparison shopping difficult.

Not knowing exactly what you are paying for is a common problem in healthcare generally. When your cardiologists says you need a stent, do you ask him what brand will be used? If health insurance pays part or all of the cost, do you ask what the cardiologist will charge, what the anesthesiologist will charge, or what your general practitioner charged for the referral? When consumers aren’t educated and fail to ask questions, it’s less likely there will be the kinds of comparisons that lead to more choice and lower prices.

With most hearing aids not covered by insurance, and with demand growing from aging baby boomers losing their hearing at a predictable rate, audiologists are hearing a lot more of these kinds of questions. And many are starting to respond.

One audiology practice, the UNC Hearing and Communications Center at the University of North Carolina, is pioneering the new practice of completely unbundled hearing aid fitting, service and sales, with as much transparency in pricing as possible. Two audiologists from the Center, Barbara Winslow Warren, Au.D., and Stephanie Sjoblad, Au.D., wrote an excellent article about their approach for HLAA’s Hearing Loss Magazine. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to understand the ins and outs of unbundling. Click here–Unbundling of Hearing Aid Costs– to download it.

As with all markets, caveat emptor — buyer beware — should be the watchword for anyone embarking on the quest for better hearing. Perhaps the best advice I got among the emails that came in was from Dennis Hampton, Ph.D., editor of Hearing HealthCare News:

I think it’s a good idea to remember that a person with a hearing loss should be “shopping” for someone who will be their hearing care provider, not for hearing aids.  Follow-up care is the critical factor in coping with hearing loss….  There are excellent hearing aid products out there (many with far more technology and bells/whistles than are necessary), and the top products are more similar than different.  But the range of professionalism and quality of follow-up care is far greater—and that is what makes the difference.

I couldn’t agree more that anyone who fears they have suffered some hearing loss should get a good evaluation from a certified hearing health care profesional. And I also couldn’t agree more that it’s in your interest to get a second, third, and even fourth opinion, when you are deciding what kind of help to get for your hearing–and from whom. And finally, the more you know about what products are out there, and which brands and manufacturers have products with the features and performance you need, the better prepared you will be to ask the right questions.

As the old saying goes, “An educated consumer is the best customer.”

Shopping Around For A Pair Of Hearing Aids Is Harder Than You Think, Starting With The Hearing Exam

Shopping around for a pair of hearing aids is harder than you think, starting with the hearing exam. Getting a hearing test resulting in an accurate audiogram is easy enough. The test only takes twenty minutes or so, and when administered by a trained audiologist or licensed hearing aid fitter, the result is usually an accurate map of your hearing profile. It’s the first essential step in getting fitted for hearing aids programmed to precisely match your levels of hearing loss at all frequencies.

But because in nearly all cases hearing exams and other audiologists’ services are bundled with the end sale of a pair of hearing aids, the hearing test very often is the first step in a sales process that applies subtle pressure on the consumer to follow through with the purchase of a pair of expensive hearing aids from the provider administering the initial test. People buying hearing aids don’t try out as many brands as consumers in other markets, lessening competition that would otherwise drive product innovation, price competition, and faster market growth.

The process should be like getting your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist, who you pay for an exam and who then gives you a prescription for eyeglasses that you can use at any retailer stocking a variety of manufacturers’ eyeglasses to choose from. Instead, when you go to an audiologist, the usual process is to get your hearing test for free, then a prescription for the one brand of hearing aids that audiologist sells, with an immediate invitation to try and then buy those hearing aids. The difference is that with eyeglasses, exams and prescriptions are usually unbundled from the sale of the eyeglasses, whereas most audiologists bundle their professional services with the price of the hearing aids they sell.

Bundling services with product sales limits consumer choice because audiologists have a strong incentive to move the consumer quickly to purchase of the manufacturers’ hearing aids they stock. It’s uncomfortable for a consumer who has gotten a “free” hearing exam to stop the process then and there, ask for a copy of the results, and use the audiogram to shop around for the best aids they can find. So many consumers fail to try different brands of hearing aids, and competition in the market is constrained.

Therefore, unbundling of hearing health services from the sale of hearing aid products in the hearing-health supply chain would increase competition, opening the way for more product choice at a broader range of price points. As in other industries where competition increases, growth in the hearing device market would accelerate as more products, including lower priced products, reached a much larger available market of users.

Several forces are at work that may dramatically disrupt this status quo in the hearing aid supply chain. First, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) came out in favor of unbundling hearing aid sales from professional services as part of its Campaign to Make Hearing Aids Affordable. Meanwhile, there are a growing number of manufacturers offering lower priced hearing aids programmed at the factory to match audiograms sent in by users who got their hearing tested but did not buy their hearing aids from the professional who administered the exam. And third, hi HealthInnovations, a newly formed subsidiary of the huge UnitedHealth Group insurance company, has started selling more affordable hearing aids direct to consumers who take a simple test that’s available on the hi HealthInnovations web site. In the coming year, we may see a new distribution channel grow in the hearing aid industry, offering more a la carte services unbundled from the final sale of hearing aids.

As I embark on my shopping expedition for a new pair of hearing aids, I will be writing about my experiences with bundled and unbundled hearing aid sales. One way or the other, I plan to try out as many manufacturers’ hearing aid models as I can. And I’ll write about my experiences with both approaches to hearing aid sales and service.

Hearing Mojo 2012: My Search For A New Pair Of Hearing Aids Plus A Quest To Understand The World’s Most Mystifying Business

I took a few months away from Hearing Mojo this year for a few reasons. A death in the family, some time-consuming technical web hosting issues that nearly crashed my site for good, and a busy stretch with my other consulting activities all made it difficult to keep my focus on the hearing aid business. But I’m back on the case now and excited about 2012.

I think most readers with hearing loss should be able to relate to my two immediate goals:

1. My old America Hears hearing aids, which have served me extremely well, are wearing out after nearly four years of use. In 2012 I will conduct a disciplined search for a new pair of high end hearing aids. The search will include comparison shopping. Writing about this extended shopping expedition should be fun and illuminating.
2. As I shop for hearing aids I will be striving for a deeper understanding of the world’s most mystifying business. I’ve been writing about hearing products and technology for more than six years, as well as about how I cope with hearing loss. In 2012, I will start writing more about how the hearing aid industry works (and doesn’t work). Wouldn’t it be nice to find some answers to that question everyone asks: “Why don’t the tens of millions of consumers who need hearing assistance (more than 30 million in the U.S. alone) have more products to choose from, at a broader range of price points, from a bigger competitive field than five or six global manufacturers?”

So, I’m excited about 2012 and expect to write a lot more than I did in 2011.

A note about my technical problems: last year I set up a hearing aid comparison chart showing the flagship products of the top six global manufacturers. It quickly became one of the most popular attractions on Hearing Mojo. Unfortunately, the WordPress plug-in I used to create the chart crashed my site. (Google the phrase WordPress White Screen of Death and you will get an idea of the extent of the problem).

I finally got the site up and running again, without the chart, and am revamping my approach to hosting and managing what has become a much bigger production than the small blog I started six years ago. I hope to make Hearing Mojo even bigger and better in 2012, and I will revive the product comparison chart(s) once I’ve sorted out the technical issues.

Stay tuned!

Why The Hearing Aid Industry Ignores Black Friday

Even as I get tired of all the hype about Black Friday, I wonder why the hearing aid industry is conspicuous by its absence on the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S. Today is the big day, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday when shoppers flock to the malls as retailers cut their prices and offer the best price-cutting and one-day sales events of the year.

But while my email inbox is full of offers from every retailer and manufacturer I’ve had contact with in 2011, I haven’t heard a peep from the many hearing aid manufacturers and resellers that send me sales pitches on other days of the year.

But on reflection I realize it should be no surprise. Why? Because manufacturers only reduce prices and put their products on sale when demand is weak and there’s enough competition in their market to make them worry. A little price incentive, especially in the holiday selling season, can be a great way to win a point or two of market share in a hotly contested market.

But the hearing aid industry is more like an oligopoly. Each of the five or six major manufacturers has a comfortable market share, and price comparison shopping is a rarity. Instead, sales channels are limited mainly to audiologists and hearing-aid dispensers, each of whom often only carries one manufacturer’s product line. People shopping for hearing aids usually get a referral to a good audiologist, and if they engage and start the process of buying a hearing aid, they often simply stop shopping around.

Lack of price competition or active consumer product comparisons means the price reduction curve that we see in other industries, especially during slow economic times, is a lot less pronounced in the hearing aid business. Customers who can afford to buy hearing aids still pay many thousands of dollars, while those who can’t afford them spend what money they have looking for Black Friday deals on other less expensive goods.

I’m wondering if Black Friday in 2012 will be any different for the hearing aid industry. In 2011 we’ve seen a number of “over the counter” hearing aid manufacturers enter the market, including UnitedHealth Group insurance company’s hi HealthInnovations subsidiary. These vendors are bypassing the traditional audiology sales channel and selling direct to consumers over the internet. They are trying to reach the tens of millions of Americans with mild hearing loss that can be treated with open-fit hearing aids providing a modest degree of amplification. The new products are less expensive and easy to purchase.

Hearing aid industry groups and professional audiology groups are up in arms about the new competitors, saying that without a full hearing exam and professional fitting, hearing aids can often do more harm than good. But U.S. regulators, who several years ago gave a green light on the internet sale of Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs) directly to consumers, may not be inclined to intervene.

So, don’t be surprised if on Black Friday 2012, your email inbox is full of offers not only from your favorite department stores, but also with offers from some new competitors in the staid old hearing aid industry.

W.L. Copithorne, RIP — He Left A Pile Of Unused Hearing Aids In The Dresser Drawer

My 94-year-old father died recently, and as we were going through his things we discovered a collection of unused hearing aids sitting in his drawer. So it can happen to anyone, even someone whose son has spent the last five years writing a blog about the wonders of hearing aids.

In recent years I had spent a lot of time helping Dad search for solutions that would alleviate his mild hearing loss, but I never knew how many times he had tried hearing aids in the past. Last year, I got him an over-the-counter Songbird Ultra hearing aid that used replaceable Number 10 hearing aid batteries, and a couple of years before that, I had gotten him a Songbird disposable hearing hearing aid that he never replaced after its battery ran out. Though he heard better with both these lower-cost products, he never got comfortable with them and they ended up in the drawer.

At that time, I knew there was already another pair of hearing aids in his drawer. Shortly after my mother died 10 years ago, he went to an audiologist for a full workup and came home with a nifty pair of completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids that set him back several thousand dollars. But he stopped using that pair, complaining about feedback and discomfort. But it wasn’t until I cleared out his home that I found yet another pair of hearing aids he had purchased a number of years earlier and never used.

In spite of the fact that he had a son who’d long gotten past the stigma of wearing hearing aids, and who was a walking example of how helpful hearing aids can be once you get up the learning curve with them, he never found a pair that did the trick for him.

You would think that in this day and age of comfortable, open-fit hearing aids with sophisticated sound processing and advanced feedback cancellation, the unused-hearing-aids-in-the-dresser-drawer syndrome would be a thing of the past. But it’s not. I chalk it up to the fact that until you really, really need hearing aids, you’ll often find it easier to cope with poor hearing on your own than going through the learning curve required to use hearing aids effectively.

It takes a while for your brain to adjust and get used to the amplified sound coming into your ears, and a lot of users don’t realize that the brain eventually filters out the distracting sounds of your feet sliding on the carpet or the keys jangling in the ignition that you first experience with a new pair of hearing aids. And even with today’s much easier-to-use hearing aids, older users like me father in their 80s and 90s still often have some dexterity issues getting the hearing aid placed correctly in their ear and the volume adjusted to their liking.

In the final decade or more of his life, my father, like so many others, suffered with less than adequate hearing and never found a pair of hearing aids that he liked. It’s too bad, as it’s been shown time and again that users of all ages who make the effort and get up the learning curve end up with much better hearing and a higher quality of life.

But there’s good news to this story, too. Alongside my dad’s unused hearing aids were two pairs of my long-deceased mother’s hearing aids as well. When she hit her late sixties she decided to do something about the mild hearing loss that she had suffered for years. She went to Sears and got a pair of inexpensive Miracle Ear in-the-canal hearing aids and wore them at church and dinner parties. Among the collection I also found a nicer, and newer, set of Phonak hearing aids that were clearly hers as well — she must have graduated to a more expensive set along the way without my having noticed.

So while Dad never got the hang of his hearing aids, they seemed to work well for Mom. Maybe she had more patience than he did. Or maybe she was just a better listener!

« Previous Page — Next Page »