Uncategorized Archives - Page 3 of 4

My hearing aid is not working!

It is generally at the worst time possible. You are on vacation in a foreign country and your hearing aid(s) stop working! It is a situation that that no one would want to be in. If someone with good hearing suddenly lost their hearing it would be a major problem. We understand what it is like and how much of an inconvenience it can be. The good news is most issues are avoidable; the bad news is many people don’t take...

The tale of two patients : Why customization is key

To lay out a common situation that occurs in our office, we will tell the fictional but common story of Mr. and Mrs. Canthear who both need hearing aids. Upon testing, we see that both of the Canthear’s have an identical hearing loss, but Mrs. Canthear has an “understanding” level of 60 percent when using both ears while Mr. Canthear has an understanding level of 90 percent using both ears. This means that even with hearing aids compensating for the...

Complement your hearing aids with the use of ALD’s and other technologies

We talk so much about the importance of having your hearing checked, and providing help to your hearing when there is the need (with hearing aids) that it is easy to think that once you get a properly fit set of hearing aids that the problem is entirely solved. While hearing aids help immensely, there are still some situations where a hearing aid, no matter how advanced or expensive it was, cannot reproduce certain sounds and make it intelligible for...

Tying Regulation of Hearing Aids Sales with Satisfaction

If you have been reading past blog posts, you know that we have visited the topic of internet hearing aid sales and its effect on patient satisfaction. As it so happens there are surveys conducted called Eurotrak and JapanTrak which track consumer use of hearing aids in six European countries and Japan. From this we can draw some conclusions which help to support the fact that a hearing aid fit by a licensed experienced professional is often the key to...

The cost of hearing healthcare

It is generally one of the first questions or concerns we get when the conversation starts, how much are hearing aids? Many of the times we get this question even before we have had any contact with the caller, they are simply interested in price. Now, just to clear things up we are very aware that this is a very reasonable question however we hope in the following post to explain why we do not give pricing out to anyone...

Your physician and hearing loss

Hearing loss is a disability which as of a 2004 MarkeTrak survey, affects around 10 percent of the US population making it as prevalent as many more “well known” disabilities that doctors look for and treat on a daily basis. Hearing loss simply is something that the overwhelming majority of well intending physicians do not screen for. Only about 13 % of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss during a physical. Disclaimer: This post is not intended to disrespect or downplay...

The true cost of an unsatisfied customer

So many obstacles exist to getting hearing healthcare. It can be frustrating for those seeking help and those available to provide the necessary help. Only about 20 percent of the people that actually need hearing aids use them. Although this can be attributed to various reasons, we will look a little deeper at the effects of failed hearing aid fittings on the customers themselves and how this bad word of mouth prevents others from receiving the help that they need. We...

Hearing Healthcare and the Internet

n this day and age the internet is used to do many things and research many topics. The internet is great and it has enabled a great deal of advancement, but in some ways the internet has had negative impacts. The recent state farm commercial featuring someone claiming she learned something on the internet and that “they cannot put anything on there that is not true” visits this point quite comically (watch here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmx4twCK3_I) Surely everyone realizes that when it...

Hearing Aid Marketing, Oy!

It is hard to miss it, the barrage of mail received by many regarding hearing aids can be overwhelming depending on where you live. You may know them as having such incentives as: 30 people needed to try a new technology, 50 percent off MSRP, come in for a free hearing test and get a free turkey (during thanksgiving of course), etc… All of these pieces are designed to get someone who would put off addressing their hearing loss to...

Do I have hearing aid coverage?

Hearing care and insurance Talk about confusing. Hearing care (that is, hearing aids and related equipment) has long been something that was not covered by most insurances and for the most part remains that way, with of course a host of complications that make it harder for us to say that no insurances cover hearing aids. We will start off with the more simple and easy to explain: Medicare does not cover hearing aids or hearing testing related to obtaining hearing aids....