This is the second in a series of posts by Songbird's CEO, Chris DiCostanzo, providing commentary around some of the ways the hearing industry can address consumers' top concerns.
The above line (altered slightly) is from Jack Nicholson’s famous rant in “A Few Good Men”. The line has always held a lot of parallel’s for me with what I think is Songbird’s real place in the industry. At no time has this been more apparent to me than it is now.
Sergei Kochkin, PhD, Executive Director of the Better Hearing Institute, recently contributed a study to Hearing Review that looked at the use by people with hearing loss of direct –order (or mail order as the study defines them) hearing aids like ours, as well as personal sound amplifier products (PSAPs). Some key conclusions included:
Approximately 1.5 million people with hearing loss use either direct-order hearing aids or personal sound amplifier products (PSAPs) to compensate for their hearing loss
These users have been aware of their hearing loss, on average, for 10 years compared to 3 years for the typical hearing aid user
Over 80% of these users indicated they were unlikely to have purchased a custom hearing aid had direct order hearing aids & PSAPs not been available.
For me, one of the key conclusions that corresponds with the last bullet point and always prompts me to reflect on the above quote is this: In the absence of less expensive hearing aids and personal sound amplification products in the marketplace, it’s likely that over a million more people with hearing loss would still be going through life without any hearing help at all.
While the study Dr. Kochkin refers to takes the view that these types of hearing aid sales cause the custom hearing aid market to lose about 55,000 patients a year, our customer research shows how much of a gateway solutions like ours can be for customers that truly need help. Our customer service representatives take calls every day from people who, after trying our product, decide to return it to purchase a more expensive, custom fit device because they were able to see the benefits of hearing aids by having the opportunity to try them in a convenient and inexpensive way.
Not many people in the industry would consider a return call like this to be a success, but, we do. When it becomes clear that we cannot meet a customer’s needs with our products, we applaud the customer for their decision to seek the help they need, encourage them to continue with the process by seeking out a hearing professional, thank them for their business, and ask them to keep us in mind if they would like an inexpensive backup at some point in the future. By making it easier for people with hearing loss to try a high quality hearing aid and creating a positive experience, companies like Songbird are creating opportunities for the traditional industry, not taking them away.
“You want us on that wall, you need us on that wall” indeed. If it wasn’t for companies like ours, a lot of people would never take that first step to better hearing and may never seek help from a professional. I applaud Dr. Kochkin for shedding light on the results of this study in a very open minded way. As an industry, we should be working together to help guide people in the right direction to fit their needs.
About Chris DiCostanzo Chris DiCostanzo is President and CEO of Songbird Hearing. Chris joined Songbird in 2002 as the Vice President of Marketing, to help the company transition from a professional to a consumer hearing products company. Prior to joining Songbird, Chris led several consumer and professional businesses for Johnson & Johnson's Personal Products Company. You can follow Chris on Twitter for more of his thoughts on the hearing industry.