Hearing Health Summer 2015 Issue Summer 2015 | Page 32

assistive advice

By George Khal

W

hen I was a distributor of
assistive listening devices
(ALDs)—these include
products such as amplified phones,
personal amplifiers, and alerting
and signaling systems—my biggest
challenge was convincing customers
that ALDs can improve their lives by
helping them to hear better. These
devices can help people who have
hearing loss to be more independent,
productive, secure, and included in
society and community life.
But there was another major
obstacle. Many customers attempted
to make do without them because of
the cost, or they would buy a lowerpriced device that did not fully meet
their needs. I wondered why the
cost is what it is, and recently spoke
with business associates who are
distributors and manufacturers to
figure this out.
One major rule of product sales
is that sales volume dictates market
prices. All persons I interviewed
agreed that the Deaf and Hard-ofHearing market is a hard-to-reach,

niche market. This results in a low
volume of assistive device sales—the
number one reason prices are high
compared with other electronics
sold to the general public. Popular
technology sold in high volume
brings down prices, because the
economies of scale dictates that
production costs decrease as the
volume produced increases.
But why is the sales volume of ALDs
so low compared with the volume of
products sold to the general public?
“Of the 10 percent of the population
with hearing loss, only 25 percent are
currently choosing to do something
about it,” says Ray Harris of Harris
Communications, a distributor.
“That means the overall market
of actual ‘active’ buyers of these
products is only about 2.5 percent of
the total population right now, which
further reduces economies of scale,”
Harris adds. (This should change as
the Baby Boomer generation gets
older and looks toward technology
to help them cope with aging.)
The high cost of production is also

32 | hearing health | a publication of hearing health foundation

George Khal founded Sound Clarity,
an international retail company for
assistive devices, serving as its president
from 2000 to 2010. He has a severe
bilateral hearing loss and was the Iowa
chapter coordinator for the Hearing Loss
Association of America.
Support a Cure:
hhf.org/donate

photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/-Antonio-

Explaining
the Cost
of Assistive
Devices

a factor. ALDs must go through the
same production processes as any
other product. There are costs of
research and development; tooling
(the cost to figure out which tools,
machines, people, and processes
will be needed to manufacture
the product); testing; shipping
from China where most ALDs are
manufactured; and import tariffs.
“Tooling costs alone can range
from $20,000 to $40,000 without
a single product being made. With
[typical] consumer electronics,
tooling costs are minimal compared
with the hundreds of thousands of
units that end up being sold,” says
Michael Abramowitz of Amplicom
USA, a manufacturer. “There are also
large expenses in safety certification.”
Another issue is that people who
have hearing loss may not realize it,
as it typically occurs gradually. But
they also may not be aware that a
range of assistive devices exist, and
that they can help them hear the TV,
talk on the phone, or be alerted in
case of emergencies.
ALDs can also be helpful because
it may help a loved one who has been
hesitant about getting a hearing aid
to realize the value of amplification.
If you have questions about
assistive devices, please ask your
doctor or hearing healthcare
provider. In addition, state agencies
exist to help defray the cost of ALDs.
Please see my Spring 2014 column,
“Take Advantage of State Programs,”
at hearinghealthmag.com.