While I would argue against purchasing hearing aids off the internet and programming them yourself, If that what someone chooses and is aware of what that entitles them to (or doesn’t entitle them to) then so be it.
However, to make a blanket statement that Audiologists are “dumb and a rip off” is ridiculous and insulting. Additionally, any statements made by you regarding the knowledge an Audiologist has (or doesn’t have) are only made to further your own financial interests “hearingaidsonebay”. I am exceptionally knowledgeable and good at my profession and I still ask that my patients return more than once for adjustments on their devices. I do this not because I don’t know what I’m doing, but because I have a vested interest in my patients success, their increase in quality of life, and I want to ensure that everything is working well for them. You cannot just plop in a certain amount of volume/settings on hearing aids, send a patient out the door, and expect everything to be fine. Adjustments are necessary. Even those people on this thread who have serviced themselves have had to make changes to the settings, to the way they fit, to any number of things. Also, most people cannot tolerate prescribed levels of gain if they have never worn a hearing aid before. Your statement would say that my 93 year-old patient with a moderately severe to severe sensorineural hearing loss and poor word recognition and has never worn a hearing aid is dealing with someone who doesn’t know what they are doing because they needed to return more than once for an adjustment! Absurd. Your lack of knowledge about the ear and how it works is doing a serious disservice to those you interact with all in your chase to make a buck but under the guise of helping.
Furthermore, I’d be interested to find out how you are supposedly providing CEU hours to a field of Audiologists and in what setting you are providing them. Instructors providing CEU’s typically work for the hearing aid manufacturers and provide educational sessions regarding their own technology. Please share with me your credentials so that I can be sure to avoid working with companies who feel that such a large number of the people (i.e. Audiologists) they sell hearing aids too have no idea what they are doing. It seems to me that a rate that high would speak poorly of the training they receive from people like you and not their education since a majority of specific programming knowledge is gained through training provided by the hearing aid manufacturers themselves.