Today’s announcement by ReSound that it will become the preferred hearing aid provider to the Tinnitus Practitioners Association (TPA) reminded me of an interesting phenomenon I’ve observed in a number of my over-50 friends.
These guys (yes, they are usually guys) wouldn’t be caught dead being treated for their very normal age-related hearing loss, but they run right to the audiologist at the first sign of tinnitus-related ringing, hissing, humming, whooshing or other unwanted sounds in their ears. They must somehow reason that while noise in their ears is a diagnosable medical problem, hearing loss is just a sign of old age that may end up requiring them to wear–horror of horrors–hearing aids.
Even more interesting is that when they come home from the audiologist, they often are wearing tinnitus-treatment devices in their ears that look suspiciously like, yes, hearing aids. But I guess if you wear something in your ear to treat your tinnitus then there’s no stigma, even if it looks exactly like a hearing aid that you would never, ever want to be seen wearing.
In fact, sound-generating tinnitus-masking devices are kissing cousins of hearing aids. Instead of amplifying sounds, they create their own sounds to compete with the noises in the user’s ear. But it’s a short leap from there to an identical looking device that also has microphones and a chip to process environmental sound. That’s why premium hearing aid manufacturers are starting to integrate tinnitus-masking features directly into their hearing aids.
Many hearing-aid wearer with tinnitus report that a side-benefit of the artificial amplification is a marked reduction in annoyance from tinnitus sounds in their ears. And the hearing aid companies have zeroed in on that benefit by marketing and promoting their tinnitus-amelioration features. Among others, Widex has gotten a lot of attention for its slickly promoted Zen tinnitus treatment feature.
ReSound’s deal with the TPA goes a step further by turning its tinnitus-masking Alera TS hearing aids into an opportunity to open up a new sales channel. Under the agreement, TPA members get access to ReSound Alera TS hearing aids at a special group price, and a portion of those proceeds are directed to helping the TPA expand their outreach encouraging the medical community to refer patients who need help with tinnitus and hearing loss. Because the TPA membership is comprised mostly of audiologists who sell high-end hearing aids in addition to helping patients deal with their tinnitus, it’s a win-win for the organization and for ReSound.
Perhaps the best aspect of it overall is that by encouraging more referrals from MD’s who want to help their patients deal with the bothersome noise in their ears, more Boomers will end up finding their way to the audiologist’s office and perhaps also get some help for their long-neglected but easily treated age-related hearing loss.
[…] • Hearing Mojo blogger David Copithorne talks about an interesting phenomenon he has noted among his over-50 friends, in Bloggers Talk About Tinnitus:7 “These guys (yes, they are usually guys) wouldn’t be caught dead being treated for their very normal age-related hearing loss, but they run right to the audiologist at the first sign of tinnitus-related ringing, hissing, humming, whooshing or other unwanted sounds in their ears.” […]