July 18, 2017 – Unbundling

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Anchor lead: Will personal sound amplification products change the way hearing loss is managed? Elizabeth Tracey reports

If you or a loved one has hearing loss, you may have seen ads for personal sound amplification products or PSAPs on the internet or elsewhere, and according to a study by Nicholas Reed and colleagues at Johns Hopkins and published in JAMA, many of them work very well. Reed says that points to the need to unbundle services of an audiologist from the sale of traditional hearing aids.

Reed: I think that these over the counter devices introduce the need for a la carte unbundled audiology services. what we just demonstrated in our study, you could buy something over the internet, bring it to us, and it only takes 15 minutes for us to get it working nicely for you, and then maybe another 15 minutes to show you how to use it. That’s not a lot of time on either side’s part and I think both sides could benefit from that relationship.   :23

Reed also supports federal legislation to regulate PSAPs.

Reid: If we have a regulated class, though, then those devices have to meet some standard. And at least people will be starting off on the right foot when they start with something over the counter.  :10

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.