I find myself wondering on a daily basis how to help people navigate the world of hearing aids. We have challenged pricing, and made something so simple that people can set it up themselves, but there is a sea of confusing information out there, making it hard for the consumer to know what to believe. I confess, I don’t really know how to help there, except that I’d advise people to work out themselves what hearing aid features are going to be needed, much as you would work out in relation to a car. But don’t just look for the cup holders and seat covers – you need to look at the engine specifications. I think that, for early stage hearing loss, and first hearing aids, you want something that sounds very natural, and I would also recommend open fit. But then there are other features. Do you need directionality? Do you need multiple programs? That depends on how good the hearing aid is. For example, not all feedback cancellers handle music well, so the music program may turn it off. Look for the features you need. What kind of feedback cancellation does it have? Then shop around for prices. Also, make sure you know how the pricing is constructed. How much is for the service? I’m happy to answer questions on this from genuine sources.
Navigating the market
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Hi Elaine, love your blog, it’s interesting to read the thoughts of someone selling hearing aids online rather than the old-school product/service bundled method.
I see a problem with many online hearing aid sellers in that they advertise functions of the hearing aid rather than the outcomes. Using the car analogy, if I was shopping for a new model I wouldn’t be asking “how many cup holders has it got?” I’d be saying, “I have a young family, is this car suited to them?”. Similarly with hearing aids, most people don’t know what a programme is or whether they need directionality but they do know which environments they want to hear in, when they can’t hear and who they can’t hear.
Presumably when patients are being seen face-to-face then it is easier for a practitioner to ask questions about their lifestyle, what and when they are having trouble hearing and which things they are particularly keen to hear again. I think online providers need to address this to, to speak more in terms of the patients needs rather than the hearing aids functions.
I’ve never bought a hearing aid online, mainly due to most of them not being powerful enough for my loss, maybe one day!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Steve. I have often used car analogies in talks about hearing aids. I think hearing aid buyers vary as much as car buyers, and some purchasers want to know about the engine characteristics and some want to know about the suitability for a young family. Some want to do their own research. When we bought one of our cars, I measured the inside of the back, to make sure you could fit in three baby seats. We get some very sophisticated questions about our hearing aids sometimes, which is partly why we make so much scientific data available.
My view is that if you make a hearing aid smart enough, it should be able to work well in pretty much every environment, and you shouldn’t need multiple programs or to know about features if you don’t wish to know about them. This has been our philosophy. The software should be really clever and easy and the hearing aid should “just work” – everywhere, The extra programs are there so that the user can “cheat” a little in some situations. On the other hand, we have sold hearing aids to people who operate in some very extreme listening environments ( e.g.rock singers, coffee barristers) and they can set up a program for that unique environment. With our system, they can go into that tricky sound environment with the laptop to set up the hearing aids.
Would you like to have a chat privately about your hearing loss? You night be surprised what my company can can do.