[Access] Fwd: Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid

Thu Apr 17 10:27:10 CDT 2008

This is info. for all.  There are two primary resources in Oregon for financial assistance with hearing aids.  If you qualify and have medicaid and your hearing is bad enough, you may qualify for only one hearing aid provided by medicaid.  If you are visually impaired, considered legally blind,  and meet the hearing loss candidacy qualifications, you may be able to get two hearing aids.

Lions Club is a resource for those who don't have medicaid.  You do have to meet financial requirements.

Many Audiologists who dispense hearing aids also have financing plans available, some with no interest for the first 6 months to one year (although if you don't pay off full amount in that time, you will be whomped with interest for full amt. from day one).

Starkey hearing aid company does have a program for those who can't afford hearing aids but don't qualify for other financial support.  This is at the discretion of your Audiologist with whether or not they will ask Starkey on your behalf.  They should really have a relationship with Starkey and utilize Starkey products.  

I haven't heard yet of this particular product.  There are constant inventions and innovations in the hearing aid industry, some of which are successful and some of which are not (remember disposable hearing aids?  Neither do I, I sold not one).  As a consumer, I would avoid the newer and slightly bizarre inventions (I wouldn't want something in my ear 24 hours a day) until they are tried and true.

The best thing you can do is establish a relationship with an Audiologist with whom you feel comfortable and whom you trust.

Hearing aids are expensive.  1) because the manufacturers are in a constant process of research and technology advances (similar to drug manufacturers) AND 2) they are, in all honesty, a low volume business.  Comparatively grocery stores, which sell at a VERY high volume have a very low mark-up rate.  They make their money on selling MORE.  Hearing aids are very low volume.  One might sell hearing aids to only 10-20 patients per month, so the mark-up is necessarily much higher.

I hope this helps.  Thanks for the article. I haven't looked at the original yet, but it sounded more like an ad.  Was it an actual article or an advertisement mocked up to look like one?

Katherine Swem

----- Original Message ----
From: d. maria <mariah at efn.org>
To: Access Issues and Discussion <access at uueugene.org>; algaelady at gmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 11:19:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Access] Fwd: Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid

Thanks for the resource.  I am not in need at this time for a hearing 
aid, but will be at some point.  Does this resource offer to pay part 
of hearing aids specifically?  dm

On Apr 16, 2008, at 9:38 PM, jeannemarie moore wrote:

> Hi Mariah,
>  
> Do you know about the Blanche fischer Foundation?  You submit a 
> request for equipment and have to pay part of it, but...
> you have to be an Oregon resident and low income, and have a 
> disability...
> you're all those yes?
> go to that web site I think it's just their name.org
>  
> blanchefischer.org
> but not sure, sorry.
>  
> j-m.
>  
>  
>
>> From: access-bounces at uueugene.org 
>> [mailto:access-bounces at uueugene.org] On Behalf Of d. maria
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:22 AM
>> To: Access Issues and Discussion
>> Subject: Re: [Access] Fwd: Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid
>>
>> David, hearing aides generally cost $3,000 to 5,000. At $3,000 a 
>> year, this is not cheap!!!
>> I will never be able to afford a hearing aid, (it took me 5 years to 
>> pay off my oral surgery and false teeth due to an infection). One 
>> would have to be wealthy to afford this new thing. Sounds good, tho. 
>> I can't figure out why there are ways to get drugs, eye glasses, and 
>> all other devises... even wheel chairs, when they are not covered by 
>> standard insurance... but, no one covers hearing aides. this makes no 
>> sense to me. Not being able to hear impedes communication. dm
>>
>> On Apr 15, 2008, at 11:14 PM, David Gilmartin wrote:
>>
>>> Received this information (sort of a combo story and promotion, I 
>>> thought) from a friend of mine. Though it seems a bit pricy to me, I 
>>> know hearing aids often cost quite a bit. There's a website 
>>> mentioned in the story that will get you a bit more detail and some 
>>> graphics.
>>>
>>> David Gilmartin
>>>
>>>> New York Times  --  April 15, 2008
>>>> Well
>>>> Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid
>>>> By TARA PARKER-POPE
>>>>
>>>> Few products are hated as much as hearing aids.
>>>>
>>>> The devices can squeal with feedback and overamplify background 
>>>> noises like the click of a turn signal or whir of a ceiling fan. 
>>>> They must be removed for showering or sleeping, and their batteries 
>>>> die frequently. Many users, out of exasperation, decide they'd 
>>>> rather live with hearing loss.
>>>>
>>>> But now scientists have come up with a different kind of hearing 
>>>> aid. While the device, called the Lyric, is being used in only 500 
>>>> patients, it appears to have overcome many of the problems 
>>>> associated with traditional hearing aids - without the expense and 
>>>> uncertainty of surgery and anesthesia.
>>>>
>>>> The Lyric, made by InSound Medical of Newark, Calif., is hidden 
>>>> deep inside the ear canal, just four millimeters (about one-sixth 
>>>> of an inch) from the ear drum. While doctors for years have been 
>>>> implanting hearing devices in the middle ear, the Lyric is not an 
>>>> implant: it can be removed with a small magnet. It is worn 24 hours 
>>>> a day, and its batteries last one to four months.
>>>>
>>>> Typically, anything that clogs the ear canal would trap moisture 
>>>> and pose an infection risk, but the Lyric is surrounded by a spongy 
>>>> material that allows moisture to escape. Because it sits so close 
>>>> to the ear drum, doctors say that it works more efficiently and 
>>>> that sounds are more natural because they don't have to be 
>>>> amplified as much.
>>>>
>>>> When the Lyric's battery dies, the entire device is replaced. 
>>>> Patients do not pay for a new device every time; instead, they pay 
>>>> an annual subscription fee of $2,900 to $3,600 for both ears (less 
>>>> if the hearing loss is in only one ear). Insurance plans typically 
>>>> do not cover the cost of the Lyric, or any other hearing device.
>>>>
>>>> A magnet is used to control the volume, turn it on and off and 
>>>> remove it when the battery runs out. It takes only a few minutes 
>>>> for a doctor to insert a replacement device.
>>>>
>>>> The Lyric does not work for everyone. In particular, some ear 
>>>> canals are too narrow to accommodate it, and the company estimates 
>>>> that it is not suitable for up to half of potential patients. A 
>>>> planned newer version should work for about 85 percent of patients, 
>>>> it says.
>>>>
>>>> Still, it is already getting an enthusiastic reception from 
>>>> patients and from hearing specialists not connected with the 
>>>> company. "There are a certain number of patients who just can't get 
>>>> over having something in their ear, just as there are a certain 
>>>> number of patients who can't wear contact lenses," said Dr. Chester 
>>>> F. Griffiths, chairman of the department of surgery at the Santa 
>>>> Monica U.C.L.A. Medical Center. "But that's the minority. The 
>>>> patients that have them love them."
>>>>
>>>> Dr. Griffiths says he has no financial ties to the Lyric, nor does 
>>>> he receive a commission for referring patients.
>>>>
>>>> One patient who swears by the device is Mike Waufle, the 
>>>> 53-year-old defensive line coach for the New York Giants. After a 
>>>> stint in the Marines and regular exposure to the sounds of gunfire, 
>>>> Mr. Waufle suffered hearing loss that grew worse and worse as he 
>>>> aged.
>>>>
>>>> On the football field, he just turned up the volume on his headset. 
>>>> But the locker room was a different story. Some voices were 
>>>> impossible to hear (including that of his last boss, Jon Gruden, 
>>>> the former Oakland Raiders head coach). Players learned they needed 
>>>> to face him when they spoke to him. Using a traditional hearing 
>>>> aid, he found it difficult to control his own voice.
>>>>
>>>> "I teach a lot in a classroom as a coach, but when I would wear a 
>>>> hearing aid my voice pattern wasn't very good," he said. "It was 
>>>> all over the place. I just took it out most of the time. I missed 
>>>> an awful lot."
>>>>
>>>> As it happened, a team doctor was one of a handful of physicians 
>>>> test-marketing the Lyric, which has been available for about 16 
>>>> months. Mr. Waufle tried it, and he says it has changed his life.
>>>>
>>>> "My voice pattern is so natural, and I hear so much better," he 
>>>> said. "Obviously, it's easier to carry on normal conversations 
>>>> without having to always say, 'Huh? What did you say?' And it helps 
>>>> just enjoying life over all and being able to hear the simple 
>>>> things like birds and other sounds you take for granted."
>>>>
>>>> Mr. Waufle says he has no financial ties to the company and 
>>>> receives no benefit for talking about his experience with the 
>>>> device. (The company says none of the people featured in 
>>>> testimonials on its Web site, www.lyrichearing.com, receive any 
>>>> form of compensation for their endorsements.)
>>>>
>>>> Right now, the Lyric is offered only through a dozen clinics in 
>>>> California, Florida and New Jersey, but it should be available at 
>>>> about 100 sites by the end of the year. Some patients who don't 
>>>> live near a clinic simply fly or drive to a site four or five times 
>>>> a year. InSound is a privately held firm, although the 
>>>> pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is a major investor.
>>>>
>>>> Dr. Robert A. Schindler, a co-founder of InSound and chairman 
>>>> emeritus of the department of otolaryngology at the University of 
>>>> California, San Francisco, says he has had hearing loss most of his 
>>>> life and has worn a Lyric since 2005. He says he remembers 
>>>> listening to an orchestra and hearing the light ping of the 
>>>> triangle.
>>>>
>>>> "I realized I hadn't heard it before," he said. "That was a very 
>>>> exciting moment for me."
>>>>
>>>> E-mail: well at nytimes.com
>>>> --_______________________________________________
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