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Why Are Digital Hearing Aids So Expensive?
sglines writes "Over the last couple of years I've been slowly getting deaf. Too much loud rock and roll I suppose. After flubbing a couple of job interviews because I couldn't understand my inquisitors, I had a hearing test which confirmed what I already knew: I'm deaf. So I tried on a set of behind-the-ear hearing aids. Wow, my keyboard makes clacks as I type and my wife doesn't mumble to herself. Then I asked how much: $3,700 for the pair. Hey, I'm unemployed. The cheapest digital hearing aids they had were $1,200 each. If you look at the specs they are not very impressive. A digital hearing aid has a low-power A-to-D converter. Output consists of D-to-A conversion with volume passing through an equalizer that inversely matches your hearing loss. Most hearing loss, mine included, is frequency dependent, so an equalizer does wonders. The 'cheap' hearing aids had only four channels while the high-end one had twelve. My 1970 amplifier had more than that. I suppose they have some kind of noise reduction circuitry, too, but that's pretty much it. So my question is this: when I can get a very good netbook computer for under $400 why do I need to pay $1,200 per ear for a hearing aid? Alternatives would be welcome."
It's a medical device - that means it's subject to more stringent controls and potential law suites. It can actually deafen someone if it fails in the right way. It can cause someone to not hear that car and get hit. These people can sue.
It's a specialty item made in more limited production runs than a netbook. Less people can be expected to purchase decent hearing aids (ironically in part because they're expensive). Bit of a viscous cycle there - if they were cheaper more people would buy them which would make them cheaper.
Finally our medical tech companies are greedy. The whole business is about cornering someone so that they need your product or end up with a shite quality of life and then milking them.
I'm the bread winner in my family. My wife wears 2 hearing aids. The model she uses are mid range. They cost about $3k each in Australian dollars on the Aussie market and have to be replaced roughly every 5 years. I'm still greatful she can hear me. I do wish they were cheaper.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Which is kind of insane thinking about it, a hearing aid is different from a heart stint with magnitudes order different levels of risk.
Unless you're finally able to hear ... and you hear a loud noise that startles you ... and you have a heart attach. What, it could happen.
It is a medical device which means that it is subject to insane levels of litigation. Mostly you are probably paying for insurance.
It is a medical device which means that it is subject to insane markups. Mostly they are probably paid for by insurance, so there is little attention paid to cost by consumers.
There, I fixed that for you.
Mostly they are NOT paid for by insurance, so there is little attention paid to cost.
There fixed that for you.