IN Bethel Park Winter 2016 | Page 34

INDUSTRY INSIGHT YOUR HEARING SPONSORED CONTENT Where’s the Beef…? By Debra Swift and Dr. Nicole Schott — Swift Audiology T he number of baby boomers with hearing loss in the next decade will skyrocket to over 50 million. Someone will turn 70 every eight seconds for the next 10 years. Guess what that means to large hearing aid buying groups, insurance companies, and Internet resellers of hearing devices and hearing aids? It means money in their pocket if they can obtain your purchase of hearing devices. These groups are actively promoting the belief that hearing aids are overpriced, while disregarding the need for ongoing professional care and service. These so called “affordable hearing devices” allows the seller to have no worries, while the consumer is left in the cold with a “pig in a poke” in their ear, or in the drawer. It means that you have to additionally purchase a limited service plan locally for maintenance and repairs, or, when your hearing changes, for programming updates. Or it may even mean you’re buying a straight amplifier, called a PSAP (personal sound amplification product). You haven’t saved money! It’s like buying a hamburger with no beef. These companies do not care abou