Hearing Economics

Last time in this series, we left off with a consumer — who we’ll now name Jack — facing a choice of purchasing hearing aids or monthly golf club membership. We gave Jack a $5000 budget and made it simple by making it a $1000 choice for golf or a hearing aid.  To recap, Jack’s utility, when faced with the

Editor’s note:  This series follows predictions by Lars Kolind[1] in the 1990s.   So far, this series has negotiated all sorts of land mines, chief among them Audiologists as Retailers, Vanishing Practitioner Autonomy, Internet Dispensing, Consumer Expectations, Vertical Distribution, Technological Dominance, Dispensers and Audiologists as Bedfellows, and Ruthless Demand Curves.  Where’s the love?  Unfortunately not in today’s post, which looks at a Prediction that

Editor’s Note:  Though occasional references are made in passing  to old posts, I have previously not resurrected old material.  Today’s post unearths an embryonic story written more than 18 months ago, long before it surfaced as a professional reality.    That story has now hatched and is featured in the newest edition of Starkey’s in-house journal.{{1}}[[1]]Frigerio, F. (2012), The future

Editor’s note:  This series follows predictions by Lars Kolind[1] in the 1990s.   Post #1 considered Audiologists as retailers; Post #2 , Post #3 and Post #6 looked at effects of new forms of competition on retailing and independent practices; Post #4 and Post #5 looked at Big Manufacturers’ innovations and retail distribution of product.  Lars Kolind’s Prediction #V:  It will be increasingly difficult to base a hearing healthcare practice on aggressive marketing and

Hearing Economics is pleased to welcome Kris Diles, AuD{{1}}[[1]]Christine Diles, Au.D. and Bill Diles, M.A. have owned Kenwood Hearing Center Sonoma County, CA for over 30 years.   They have expanded the practice  to 3 full time locations with a staff of both audiologists as well as hearing aid dispensers.  Dr. Diles is a consultant to the Product Development Team

Utility is a 19th century microeconomic concept used to measure consumer satisfaction.  Satisfaction is personal and subjective; it cannot be measured directly.  Utility measures it indirectly by asking consumers to assign numbers to different levels of satisfaction they believe they would experience if they consumed a product or service.  The reason economists bother with a concept like Utility is because

These posts follow up on predictions made by Lars Kolind in the late 1990s, published in the final chapter{{1}}[[1]]Jerger JJ, Skafte MD, Kolind L. The future of audiology practice management.  Chapter 21. In Hosford-Dunn H, Roeser R, & Valente, M. (2000). Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed). NY:  Thieme. pp 481-490.[[1]] of Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed, 2000).  Post #1 considered Audiologists as retailers; Post #2 & Post #3 looked

This series checks in on predictions made by Lars Kolind in the late 1990s, published in the final chapter{{1}}[[1]]Jerger JJ, Skafte MD, Kolind L. The future of audiology practice management.  Chapter 21. In Hosford-Dunn H, Roeser R, & Valente, M. (2000). Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed). NY:  Thieme. pp 481-490.[[1]] of Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed, 2000).  Post #1 evaluated and concurred with Dr.

This series checks in on predictions made by Lars Kolind in the late 1990s, published in the final chapter{{1}}[[1]]Jerger JJ, Skafte MD, Kolind L. The future of audiology practice management.  Chapter 21. In Hosford-Dunn H, Roeser R, & Valente, M. (2000). Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed). NY:  Thieme. pp 481-490.[[1]] of Audiology: Practice Management (1st Ed, 2000).  Post #1 evaluated and concurred with Dr.

Hearing Economics is pleased to welcome a Guest Blogger this week.  Brian Taylor‘s post is a natural follow-on to posts you’ve read here in the last two weeks discussing how and why traditional practitioners will use value adds to maintain and grow their practices in the midst of the online retail onslaught. Considering all the chatter about PSAPs, reduced barriers