11 BIG LIES of THE INDUSTRY

Hearing Aids
104

Here is a great example of what is going on in this industry and perfectly explains all that I have been saying.

The first FDA cleared online hearing aid just came out this year. Made by Bose. $850, self programmable, direct to consumer hearing aid thanks to the 2018 Law .

Here is a link to watch and listen to an Audiologist explain the laws which changed, and gives an in-depth review of these aids.
It is amazing that it took 4 years since the law was enacted to see the first product come from it (enacted in 2017,held up for one year). It is even more amazing that we all had to wait until 2021 to get a hold of such a simple and uncomplicated piece of technology that is so badly needed for many many people.

I am excited to see what the free market will produce now that the road blocks have been lifted.

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105

A real step in the right direction.

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106

The Bose are $850. I’ve seen gray market Signia pair for about the same price. I have never been a fan of Bose products. Still I would be interested in trying them.

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107

Plenty of information about them right here on the forum, just use the search button from right here on hearingtracker to find out more about them.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/search?context=topic&context_id=64405&q=Bose%20hearing%20aids&skip_context=true

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108

That is how you learn. You learn by ‘doing’. Programming a hearing aid is not rocket science. ‘The average “Joe” with a HiPro’ can achieve better results than a professional audiologist. Real Ear Measurements is just hype. Self-programmers have as much time as they want to get adjustments spot on without costly visits to a greedy audiologist.

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109

Your audi may be able to fix them in house. If Phonak and others took in all of the aids that needed “repair” directly, the majority of what they received would simply require cleaning, or a replacement wire, or a changed wax guard, or bluetooth connection restored, etc. I go to my audi fairly frequently for cleanings, and recently trialed the HA’s I now own. I see a LOT of elderly people coming in with issues that the front desk or an audi themselves can easily fix in house. Manufacturers don’t want to handle all of this directly. they’ll be overwhelmed and wearers will have wasted weeks for a ‘fix’ that might have taken five minutes in house.
Not everything is the result of lyin’ cheatin’ dirty rotten audi’s.

As for programming my own aids…my music program had to be tweaked with the help of a signia audi. Not every adjustment is immediately obvious and available on an aid. There are back programs etc. I really don’t want to spend a year or more ‘learning’ how to program my own aid, and buying the the equipment for that. I udnerstand that others are good at this and enjoy it. Not me!

110

Markk:
You sound just like the narcissistic, self-important, impatient, know-it-all audiologist with whom I just cut ties with. At some expense I put his aids in the drawer and repurchased from another audiologist. Both aids were of the best $$ level, but a crummy audiologist can totally negate the benefits of the latest feature-rich hearing aids.

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111

Are you talking to me?? Markk isn’t an audiologist.

112

Although I agree with the statement, I would rather oppose it with a time-well-planned audiologist. They don’t have all the time in the world to devote to one patient, but rather have to help them in the time they have allotted to each patient. Given that their income model is based on HA sales and not service,it’s a rather trying thing. We have all the time in the world to spend on our annoyances and will get a reasonably to very good result with near to zero annoyances.

The greedy part I have to oppose. Although audiologists are well payed, they do not get rich. They don’t retire at 50. Yes, they are part of a system that charges us too much and represses other avenues to get our hearing fixed. However, a lot of people are part of systems that are not in general based on the good of all.
So why should audiologists be held to higher standards. Your physician makes more money than they do. Is (s)he greedy, too? Or are they just well off?

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113

The 11 lies are all related to sales statements that some audiologists make to get and keep business. They are all business people and are all in a profession that tries to help people hear better through the use of high tech devices and being a business person and a people helper are not necessarily compatible. They need you to buy hearing aids and their related add-on devices so they can fund their services. By the way, I have not had an audiologist make any of these statements and I have seen a bunch.

Some other thoughts:
I tried self-programming and gave it up because I decided that I didn’t want to spend my time that way. I would rather pay an audiologist who knows what they are doing, who knows how to adjust the aids based on testing that she does and comments that I make and my comments are usually quite detailed.

I was hoping that the current Congress in the USA would pass the BBB bill and hearing aids would get paid for by Medicare and remove the need for audiologists to play salesperson as well as caregiver and make it possible for more people over the age of 65 to afford hearing aids and the services that they require. Since passage is unlikely given the reluctance of the Senator from West Virginia to vote for it, we are stuck with having to purchase a high priced item on our own (the VA is one big exception to this, of course) and will have to do what we normally do with over-promising sales people as well as dishonest ones, and that is take our business elsewhere. It is what we do! It is what the process of buying stuff is about and why forums like this exist, to help us choose who to give our money to and for what products. Pretty simple. Enough said.

114

Yes, that’s the OPs reason for starting this topic.

So being a “business person” makes it ok to lie? One would expect this from a used car salesman I’m sure.

You mean life style.

This statement is confusing, do you mean you were unable to DIY successfully, I mean the time factor is irrelevant, understanding how to do it is another thing.

Well it’s not just older people who need/want affordable HAs
Plenty of the younger generation have problems with hearing now, I think this is why a bigger push has been made for OTC.

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115

Even if you are wealthy enough to drop $150 each time to have your hearing aids programmed. You still have to “spend your time” making an appointment, driving to the audiologist, waiting for your appointment, blah blah with all your “details”, making a payment and driving home. Self-programming is not rocket science. Anyone with brain stem can do it.

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116

Wow! Not quite sure that is the case. Sure you can do it, but do you know what you are doing ? I didn’t and as I said, I didn’t want to spend the time learning how to do it. I have too many other things I want to do in my life. Where I live it takes a short ten minute drive to get to my audiologist who spends under twenty minutes with me making my hearing better and since I purchased the aids from her practice, I pay nothing additional.

117

You are quite right on this subject, but I was only talking about a way I saw that I could save the $1k a year that I currently spend on hearing aids since I am way beyond the age of 65.

118

No, I mean to keep their business going. And I am not saying that they have to be corrupt in order to survive, I was just reacting to to the sales tactics that some audiologists use listed in this post.

119

This is really good to know, as this changes the outlook, it’s definitely the way forward for you if this is all it takes to get everything up and running, I think your lucky to be able to have found a local clinic that does everything you need :slightly_smiling_face:

120

This strikes me as quite cynical. Do you say this about all health care providers? How about cops and firemen? Grocery clerks? PETA? House painters? everyone? where does it end?

yeah, ya gotta spend money to receive services. You write as if audiologists were in the 1%. Hardly.

I also live minutes away from my provider. After care and service is free and fast. A lot can be done in house. I don’t find my provider to be corrupt at all. I was given an extended testing period with my aids. My provider encouraged me to buy the cheaper model. She has to make a living. She’s not living in a mansion. Sheesh.

what do you do to make money? Hedge fund manager? Are you too subject to the accusation of charging more than you need in order to make a profit for yourself? Are you working to fund your life style? Isn’t everyone?

121

Well it’s not, the topic on this thread is what… nothing to do with firemen or house painters right, were discussing the hearing care industry, and actually i do say the same thing doctors, lawyers, dentists, but who cares!

Yeah no kidding, the difference is what’s fair ok, but sure what’s fair to one is a rip off to another.

Well if you say so, but having friends in the industry tells me they can make some pretty good money, but again who cares, for me, it’s so much the money, that part just puts salt on the wound, it’s the business practices for people who really need HAs, the whole industry mate, the manufacturers are running a cartel, simple, but it doesn’t matter much anymore,OTC is just around the corner!

So we already know that most of them are just good buggers, it’s the bad apples that spoil it for the majority, we have some very good and honest members from right here on hearingtracker, you would have seen their respective replies.

Really…you know her that well?

I’m just a humble engineer, I take what’s been offered at the going rate, but I know my boss is changing out 3 X what I make and…he does live in a manner befitting a mansion.

Yes of course, but we’re not in the healthcare business, so people live or die on how much money they have or don’t, so cry me a river mate.

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122

whereas audiologists are masters of the universe who demand their own millions and we’re all suckered into paying them.

Even as a humble engineer, are you ready to build your own HA? No. You can program one that’s already been designed, engineered and manufactured for you. I can’t, and I have no interest in that. I’m just a humble retired bookseller who doesn’t like trying to cobble together all the equipment needed to then go on and learn how to program a hearing aid, with the hours and hours of learning that would take. It’s worth it to me to pay someone more for my aids up front in order to get free service for the life of my aids.

I don’t work on my car either. sure, I could fork out thousands to acquire the tools for that, and learn how to work on an engine…or not! computers have made that nearly impossible. And so I don’t bash mechanics en masse and call them crooks and cheats. I’ve found a good shop that does good work at a fair price. You?

Grow your own food, mate? build your own house and washing machine and coffee maker? Are those providers all just using us as well?

Do I know my audi well enough to know that she’s not rolling in dough, but just pretending? The question assumes that I’ve been hookwinked by her. Yes, in fact I do know that she struggles along just like most of us.

Most people in the health care field actually care about helping patients. How hard is that to understand?

Cry me a river, mate? Have you checked out the conditions that health care workers and doctors are working under during covid? You wanna bash them. Not the right moment to be bashing nurses and doctors, mate.

Do you repair your own aids as well? have the tools and know how? No?

My guess is that most engineers make far more than most audiologists. What’s your issue? again, I’d guess that you’re tarred with your own brush. You work for a living, just like everyone else. Maybe we should be going after Elon Musk and his ilk rather than audiologists (!!!) as if they were responsible for our woes.

I’ve found that most people are decent and can be trusted. There’s a mood abroad that suggests everyone’s just on the make and deserves to be bashed. I find that disturbing and wrong. so I stand up to present a realistic version of things.

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123

Guaranteed if Medicare covers aids, they will be lower level and no decent audiologist would except the pitiful government payments, making the level of care even more questionable than it already is. And any audi that does except Medicare would lose money on every patient and then have to make it up on us cash paying customers.

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