By David H. Kirkwood
WASHINGTON, DC—Citing “structural and programmatic changes for the Better Hearing Institute (BHI),” the Hearing Industries Association (HIA), which funds BHI, announced that Sergei Kochkin, BHI’s executive director since 2004, “will no longer be associated with the institute” effective November 1.
In a press statement issued October 22, HIA said, “While Dr. Kochkin will no longer be on staff, HIA anticipates a continued relationship with him and is deeply appreciative of his many years of service as an HIA member, a BHI director, and, most recently, its executive director.”
It continued, “His work has contributed to a comprehensive understanding of people with hearing loss and their approach to amplification that has enhanced the products and services that the hearing aid industry delivers to those individuals, and the industry deeply appreciates and loudly applauds his contributions.”
KOCHKIN’S PLANS
Sergei Kochkin
While Kochkin declined to comment on HIA’s action or its statement, he told this blog, “I look forward to consulting within the hearing healthcare market, since with 25 years’ experience that is where my expertise is.”
He also posted HIA’s statement on his Facebook page, where it quickly drew dozens of comments from people paying tribute to his contributions to the hearing industry.
HIA AND BHI ARE NO LONGER SEPARATE
The key structural change that led HIA to eliminate the position of executive director of the Better Hearing Institute was the merger of HIA and BHI on January 1, 2012.
The two organizations have always been closely connected. It was the industry trade association that founded BHI in 1973 as a not-for-profit corporation to educate the public about hearing loss and its treatment. And BHI was always dependent upon HIA financially.
Legally, though, BHI was a separate organization with its own board of directors and executive director. But after HIA absorbed BHI and essentially turned it into an HIA committee, there was no longer reason for BHI to have its own director.
A CHANGE OF DIRECTION
Carole Rogin
HIA has also decided to shift BHI’s direction to focus more on consumers with hearing loss. In a recent message to the association’s Market Development Committee, Carole Rogin, president of HIA, explained “This new direction affirms the original mission of BHI and extends its strategic impact by expanding the focus on the consumer with hearing loss.”
She added, “We will be repurposing the invaluable MarkeTrak data that we have developed over the past decades into articles, publications, social media venues, and a new web site that will communicate directly with consumers in a manner that stimulates them to take action on their hearing concerns and begin the journey to better hearing.”
While HIA will continue to use the data from past MarkeTrak surveys, it has decided, at least for now, not to pick up the costs of doing additional surveys. From its inception in 1990, the MarkeTrak program had been funded by Knowles Electronics.
BHI’S IMPACT
HIA’s statement about changes at BHI did not address the issue of what impact the institute’s efforts have had. However, anyone who, like me, has been a member and a director of HIA knows that the manufacturers that make up HIA are continually trying to determine if BHI’s programs are leading to growth in the hearing aid market. In other words, is their investment paying off?
That has always been difficult to judge with any certainty. However, the perennially slow growth of U.S. hearing aid sales along with MarkeTrak’s findings that the percentage of people with hearing loss who use hearing aids has scarcely budged over 25 years are not the kinds of results that HIA would like to see. And they almost certainly influenced HIA’s decision to make changes in BHI’s structure and direction and, it appears, to reduce its level of funding.
KOCHKIN’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
While a cynic might question the sincerity of HIA’s stated appreciation and applause for Kochkin, by all accounts his many achievements during eight years at the helm of BHI were truly recognized by the industry organization and beyond.
Even before becoming executive director of BHI in 2004, Kochkin was well established as the leading analyst of the U.S. hearing aid market. As director of market development and market research for Knowles Electronics, Inc., he had supervised the MarkeTrak survey. His dozens of reports analyzing the MarkeTrak findings began appearing in industry publications in 1990 and were regarded as the authoritative source of information on consumer attitudes and behavior toward hearing aids and hearing loss.
Kochkin had also been a board member of BHI and had chaired HIA’s Market Development Committee.
In taking over the directorship of BHI, Kochkin said, “My short-term goal is to rebuild the Better Hearing Institute into the premier hearing health educational organization in the United States.” Even a cursory look at his record shows that he did that.
Over the next eight years, BHI published and posted numerous guides for consumers on such important topics as tinnitus, financial assistance for buying hearing aids, protecting one’s hearing from noise, shopping for hearing aids, and children’s hearing. Kochkin recruited a long list of prominent experts to write these guides.
Under his direction, BHI provided information to hearing professionals and to consumers about subjects such as the dramatic economic benefit to people who get help for their hearing loss, the link between untreated hearing loss and dementia, why people with depression should have their hearing tested, and the risks of hearing loss from attending rock concerts.
Kochkin continued publishing the MarkeTrak articles and also gave talks all over the country to spread the better hearing message. Now, he hopes to continue his efforts in a new capacity.
I am not sure that we, as hearing aid retail dispensers will be able to receive unbiased information now that BHI and HIA have merged. Not a good idea to have the wolf guarding the chicken coop. Many times the failure of people receiving hearing help is the high retail cost of hearing aids. This is a result of the high wholesale cost of hearing aids that we are required to pay manufacturers. They just produce the product, but we as retailers are required to pay a very high price for product, have to pay high marketing costs and pay highly qualified professionals fairly to manage patient care. Therefore the retail price has to be raised to a level to cover retail costs, but not so high that the consumer is unable to afford to take care of their hearing problem. If manufacturers would reduce their wholesale price, we could reduce our retail price, and more consumers would be able to afford better hearing.
CORRECTION: The “announcement” of Sergei Kochkin’s departure was NOT in a press release — It was in an e-mail sent to BHI members, which one recipient forwarded on to him, which he then posted to Facebook.
Dan Schwartz,
Editor, The Hearing Blog
Dan,
To set the record straight and correct your “correction,” I’ll tell you and other readers what happened.
On October 21 I heard a report that HIA had decided to eliminate the executive director’s position at the Better Hearing Institute (BHI), and that Dr. Kochkin would be leaving as a result. On Monday, October 22, I contacted the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) to ask if the report I heard was true. I was told it was and that HIA would send a statement about what had happened to me. That same day, I received the statement, which was labeled “press statement.” I used it in writing the post to which you are responding.
Whether that document was also sent to others before or after it was sent to me I don’t know. What I do know is that it was sent to HearingHealthMatters.org as a press statement, as I reported.
Count me as just one of many cynics, as you can see from the comments on the post on my own Facebook wall, including ones copied over from LinkedIn:
http://www.facebook.com/DLS4U2/posts/369282323160560
(open to all to view and comment).
My own analysis is that the very thoroughly researched MarkeTrak reports produced by BHI and funded by their parent Hearing Industries Ass’n tell the hearing aid manufacturers uncomfortable truths from the user community feedback, namely that there’s still a lot of work to be done on things such as performance in noise, wind noise reduction, and (of course) cost; and releasing the results to the public.
What’s more, besides the obvious loss to the hearing impaired community, the loss of objective, manufacturer-independent MarkeTrak data is a real blow to the many hundreds of hearing aid professionals who rely on its’ findings to guide their practice. For just one shining example, Dr Kochkin’s MarkeTrak correlated successful hearing aid fittings (and hence reduced credit returns) with the use of real ear (probe mic) measurements: This is “evidence-based” research at its’ best.
This gutting of BHI will has lasting negative ramifications for both the hearing aid professional and hearing impaired communities, of which I am a member of both.
Dan Schwartz,
Editor, The Hearing Blog
http://www.TheHearingBlog.com
David E. Rich, Ph.D. on October 25, 2012 at 9:24 am said:
“…This is a result of the high wholesale cost of hearing aids that we are required to pay manufacturers.”
I couldn’t agree more. We have seen our wholesale cost of hearing aids increase by 35% across the board in the past 2-3 years–and we dispense typically 100 hearing aids per month, so I can’t imagine the price jump for smaller practices.
One can’t help but get the impression that now HIA is going to have more control over the BHI and outwardly this may tarnish its reputation as an unbiased nonprofit organization–whether that is a legitimate criticism or not.