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Hearing Aid Business Under Pressure From Consumer Electronics
HughPickens.com writes: There's good news for aging Americans who may have damaged their hearing by attending one too many rock concerts when they were young. Andrew Pollack writes at the NYT that the consumer electronics industry is encroaching on the hearing aid business, offering products that are far less expensive and available without the involvement of audiologists or other professionals. The new devices are forcing a re-examination of the entire system for providing hearing aids, which critics say is too costly and cumbersome, hindering access to devices vital for the growing legions of older Americans. "The audiology profession is obviously scared, for good reason, right now," says Abram Bailey.
Hearing aids cost an average of nearly $2,400 each, or close to $5,000 a pair, according to a White House advisory group, and Medicare does not pay for them, nor do most insurers. By contrast, the consumer devices are not regulated and sell for a few hundred dollars apiece, at most. Hearing aid manufacturers say that diagnosing and treating hearing loss is too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional. But sound amplifiers have been around for years and they are growing in sophistication, taking advantage of signal processing chips developed for phones, Bluetooth headsets and computers. The devices include the Smart Listening System from Soundhawk, which sells at $400 for a single ear; the Bean from Etymotic Research, at $300; the CS50+ from Sound World Solutions at $350; and the Crystal Ear from NeutronicEar, at $545. "To me it was a reasonable investment to experiment with," says Ira Dolich, 81, who bought the Soundhawk device, which he can adjust by himself using his smartphone. "I've been pretty pleased with it," he said.
Hearing aids cost an average of nearly $2,400 each, or close to $5,000 a pair, according to a White House advisory group, and Medicare does not pay for them, nor do most insurers. By contrast, the consumer devices are not regulated and sell for a few hundred dollars apiece, at most. Hearing aid manufacturers say that diagnosing and treating hearing loss is too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional. But sound amplifiers have been around for years and they are growing in sophistication, taking advantage of signal processing chips developed for phones, Bluetooth headsets and computers. The devices include the Smart Listening System from Soundhawk, which sells at $400 for a single ear; the Bean from Etymotic Research, at $300; the CS50+ from Sound World Solutions at $350; and the Crystal Ear from NeutronicEar, at $545. "To me it was a reasonable investment to experiment with," says Ira Dolich, 81, who bought the Soundhawk device, which he can adjust by himself using his smartphone. "I've been pretty pleased with it," he said.
Hearing aid manufacturers say that diagnosing and treating hearing loss is too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional.
So we're too stupid to say, "yep, putting this amplifier in my ear makes me hear better"?? These charlatans need to be put out of business.
It depends on the hearing issues. Sufferers of APD need the digital ones. You use those, and drop out the frequencies outside the human voice, in order to boost voice above the ambient noise. Analog don't work for that, and make the problem worse, as APD is about brain processing being confused by the extraneous input, so a full-spectrum analog amp just makes the problem worse, when the digital equalizer ones can actually help.
The best device is greatly dependent on the hearing issue, and the hearing professionals are needed to diagnose the correct medical condition being addressed.
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But wait... these are being used as medical devices! You can't make them better and cheaper over time, the government regulators say so!!!
I do hope this was intended as a joke, because I have grown rather tired of hearing the geek talk like a quack when the subject turns to medicine.
Top 10 Supply Items by Total Spend - January 2015 Tracks 10 supply items, often known as ''physician preference items,'' based on total amount spent on those items during the month by hospitals and other provider organizations.
Aging ears tend to lose response to different frequencies at different rates. (presbycusis) The expensive earphones try to tailor the audio response to match an individual's specific hearing loss pattern. Some folks may actually need that. It's far from clear to me that a simple tone and volume control pair of controls wouldn't be more than adequate for a lot of us elderly.folks.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Hearing aids are external devices, no more intrusive than earbuds. They aren't going to have any worse effects than earbuds, and can be programmed to not get too loud. I've been told that going without hearing aids for too long can cause permanent nervous system effects, and if that's true we really want people to be able to get aids of acceptable quality easily, as it causes more harm to be without them than to get substandard ones.
I have a friend who was desperate to get hearing aids, but couldn't afford a few thousand dollars. (He eventually got them used, much later than is medically desirable.) I've got absolutely wonderful insurance. I don't pay for prescriptions or office visits. I had a heart attack, including ambulance ride and rehab, and was about $60 out of pocket. I paid 70% of the price of my hearing aids (fortunately, I can afford it), which amounted to over $3K. Most people aren't that fortunate.
It's always a good idea to get medical advice when something is not working, but by far the most likely cause of hearing problems is deterioration caused by exposure to loud noises, and the treatment for that is hearing aids.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes