Dr. Hosford-Dunn began blogging in her audiology private practice in Tucson, AZ. Back in 2009, blogging was a new and interesting way to quickly share and improve information with colleagues, consumers, and patients. As blogging gained attention, she had the opportunity to serve as chief editor of a multi-author blog for an hearing industry publication. The format was fun and successful. It rapidly evolved into Hearing Health & Technology Matters! (HHTM), an independent blogsite that she founded in partnership with other colleagues in 2011. Since its inception, Dr. Hosford-Dunn has served as HHTM’s first Editor-in-Chief, then Managing Editor, and now is CFO of the organization. After graduating with a BA and MA in Communication Disorders from New Mexico State, she completed a PhD in Hearing Sciences at Stanford and did post-docs at Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Eaton-Peabody Auditory Physiology Lab (Boston). Post-education, she directed the Stanford University Audiology Clinic; developed multi-office private practices in Arizona; authored/edited numerous text books, chapters, journals, and articles; and taught Marketing, Practice Management, Hearing Science, Auditory Electrophysiology, and Amplification in a variety of academic settings. Dr. Hosford-Dunn participates in life long learning by writing weekly posts and by embracing sequential learning endeavors. She spent a year training with the Gemological Institute of America, gaining certification as a Graduate Gemologist (GIA). She graduated with a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2013. Currently — and probably forever — she studies the Spanish language.
Featured image for “Who Are We and Why?  Hearing Economics Gets all Dark and Existential”
Feb. 25, 2014

Who Are We and Why? Hearing Economics Gets all Dark and Existential

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Hearing Economics is forever asking Why–usually more than 5 times– especially when it comes to the Why of hearing aid prices.  The Pricing series has asked the Whys of manufacturing costs, retail Price, and wholesale pricing for different dispensing models. The Why of “markup”  shows that net profit–the true markup–is well below $100/hearing aid. That prompts a host of “Why
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Feb. 18, 2014

Consumers Listen Up Before Purchasing Online Hearing Aids

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Today’s post comes from Guest Editor Harvey Abrams, PhD,  back with another compelling read.  He was last heard explaining away the $100 hearing aid myth.  Readers can find his bio at the end of the post. Today’s post picks up the Pricing issue from the service side of the equation:  Not only do products cost more than you’d think, but services
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Feb. 11, 2014

Private Sector Hearing Aid Costs and Markup

Holly Hosford-Dunn
“The success of the final product of services and hearing aid is dependent much more upon our services than it is upon the product. ”  Catherine Palmer PhD  Audiologists and licensed practitioners believe those words, based on years of experience with patients.  That’s why most of us do what we do and charge what we charge.  The next step in
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Feb. 04, 2014

Markup Gets a Makeover: Hearing Aid Pricing Part 12

Holly Hosford-Dunn
“We don’t treat the product as a commodity other than the fact that the acquisition cost of the product is a line item.”  Catherine Palmer PhD  Last week took issues with unmarked black boxes and the misuse of “markup” with reference to hearing aid sales. Today’s post continues the theme by introducing better boxes to get a handle on business
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Jan. 28, 2014

Markup Is an Abused and Misunderstood Term

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Last week’s post concluded that hearing aid markup is “roughly keystone: 2x, not the ‘exorbitant’ 5x or even higher markup claimed on the Internet.”  The conclusion was based on supporting, albeit sparse, data, which is more than can be said for the 5x claim reproduced in Figure 1.  Besides, talking about markup as a multiple is misleading and sloppy when speaking of complex
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Jan. 21, 2014

Bundle Bundle Toil and Trouble

Holly Hosford-Dunn
The last few posts in the Pricing series measured the spans separating wholesale and retail pricing of hearing aids.  The purpose was not to give away trade secrets; rather to reduce trade secrecy in order to pursue rational explanations of hearing aid pricing.   For that, we need real data rather than shrouded speculation, which means “transparent” pricing, or what
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Jan. 14, 2014

Raising the Curtain on Wholesale to Retail Hearing Aid Pricing, part 2

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Last week’s post raised the curtain on average wholesale and retail hearing aid pricing with the data in Figure 1, but it did not address average retail price of premium instruments.  That’s a crucial part of the Price puzzle because that’s where most of the wholesale increase is occurring.  Two big questions were left unanswered: How much of the higher
Featured image for “Raising the Curtain on Wholesale to Retail Hearing Aid Pricing”
Jan. 07, 2014

Raising the Curtain on Wholesale to Retail Hearing Aid Pricing

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Are hearing aid markups as high as internet operators and others claim?  Are Audiologists routinely using a “5x markup?”  So ended the last post in this series and so begins today’s post.   How High Did You Say? Based on the 89,400 results accrued from a simple Google search of “$6000 hearing aids,”  it seems reasonable to use the decade-old anchor price of
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Dec. 31, 2013

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby: Hearing Device Patents in November-December 2013

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Let’s launch the New Year with an exciting list of new patent approvals, in the tradition of previous posts, continuing the momentum started by E.G. Hyde in 1855 with the first US hearing aid patent (#12,951 shown above). If “exciting” doesn’t sound like  the right word, how about “contentious” or at least  “competitive”?  The numbers tell the story of the
Dec. 24, 2013

Readers Choice 2013: 2014 Will Usher in a Brave New World of Bluetooth and Made for iPhone Hearing Aids

Holly Hosford-Dunn
This post is a Reader’s Choice selection for 2013.   GN Resound stole the show at the 58th Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA) in Germany last week, with the debut of its “Made for iPhone” MFi hearing aid (scheduled for global release 1st quarter of 2014).  According to a press release covered by the Wall Street Journal and internationally on Oct 16, the LiNX(TM) MFi