Subject: Hearing aid owner dissatisfaction From: Brent Edwards <brent(at)EDWARDS.NET> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 18:53:44 -0800Following is some information on hearing aid owner dissatisfaction. References are below. >From an article published in 2000 on the hearing aid in the drawer phenomenon, the top 20 reasons why hearing aid owners don't use their hearing aids are: 1. Poor benefit 2. Background noise/noisy situations 3.Fit and comfort 4. Negative side effects of hearing aid 5. Price and cost of repairs 6. Don't need help 7. Hearing aid is broken 8. Sound quality is poor 9. Unspecified - do not wear 10. Volume control adjustment 11. Whistling and feedback 12. Nuisance/hassle/annoying 13. Poor service from dispenser 14. High-frequency loss not helped 15. Stigma of wearing hearing aids 16. Work in limited situations 17. Profound hearing loss not helped 18. Too loud 19. Battery life too short 20. Forget to use In 1997, 16% of hearing aid owners did not use their aids. In 2000, 11% of hearing aid owners did not use their aids. Also, in a survey of 2428 hearing aid owners on what improvements they wanted to their aids published in 2002, the following were the top 10 responses. The percentage of people who rated highly the desirability of these improvements is also shown. 1. (95%) Speech in noise 2. (88%) Better sound quality 3. (85%) Less whistling and buzzing 4. (84%) Lower price 5. (83%) More soft sounds 6. (82%) Longer lasting batteries 7. (82%) Work better with telephone 8. (81%) Speech in quiet 9. (81%) Loud sounds less painful 10. (78%) Better fit and comfort --Brent Kochkin, S. MarkeTrak V: Why my hearing aids are in the drawer: The consumer 's perspective, Hearing Journal, Vol. 53(2) February 2000, pp. 34-41. Kochkin, S. MarkeTrak VI: 10-Year Customer Satisfaction Trends in the US Hearing Instrument Market, The Hearing Review, Vol. 9(10) October 2002, pp. 14-25, 46. Kochkin, S. MarkeTrak VI: Consumers Rate Improvements Sought in Hearing Instruments, The Hearing Review, Vol. 9(11) November 2002, pp. 18-22. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Bregman" <al.bregman(at)mcgill.ca> To: <AUDITORY(at)LISTS.MCGILL.CA> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 6:43 PM Subject: Re: Yet again on hearing aids > Dear Tom, > > You wrote: > > > if we delete the science from hearing aid fitting, what > do we have left other than > > witch craft? > > We have the subjective reports of the patient as to which > settings he or she prefers. There may be other kinds of science > relevant to this question, not just hearing science: for example > psychology. Too bad there aren't more studies as to the > variables that lead to the "dresser drawer" solution, since this > question is arguably the most important one that exists > concerning the fitting of hearing aids, because it's a question > of the difference between some help and no help at all. > > Al > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <g_brennantg(at)TITAN.SFASU.EDU> > To: "Al Bregman" <al.bregman(at)mcgill.ca> > Cc: "AUDITORY" <auditory(at)lists.mcgill.ca> > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 11:05 AM > Subject: Re: Yet again on hearing aids > > > > Al, this is a bit out of context and not the original issue but > a side issue > > Barbara raised. The iriginal issue had to do with harmonic > fitting of hearing > > aids. I agree that fitting by formula never does better than > get you somewhere > > in the ball park but I would also point out that there are many > hearing aids in > > dresser drawers regardless of how they are fitted. Be all that > as it may, if we > > delete the science from hearing aid fitting, what do we have > left other than > > witch craft? > > > > Tom > > > > > > Tom Brennan KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP, R/D - AU > > web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html > > > > > >