Fig 1.
Premium Pricing for major technological innovations raised average prices of hearing aids by about $1000 from 1994 to 2011, as shown in a previous post and reproduced above.
The Data
Fig 1 was derived from the numbers contained in Table 1, footnoted to explain origins, derivations, and assumptions. Nominal average Price (left column of Table 1) from 1980-1999 was compiled and provided by Karl Strom, Editor of Hearing Review. Real average Price (2nd column, Table 1) was calculated by multiplying column 1 figures by a simple purchasing power calculator. Real Price adjusted for technological shocks (column 3) adds estimated price adjustments of successive generations of technologies to the values of column 2.
Readers are encouraged to contribute better numbers, more numbers, and corrections.
Table 1. Data supporting Fig. 1
Notes from Table 1.
1. Hearing Review, see text just below Fig 14
2. Hearing Journal, Fig 5
3. Average from Hearing Review 3rd paragraph above Fig 8 ($1520); Hearing Journal Fig 5 ($1659)
4. Average from Hearing Review paragraph below Fig 6 ($1730); Hearing Journal Fig 5 ($1661)
5. Average from Hearing Review 2nd paragraph below Fig 34 ($1794); Hearing Journal Fig 5 ($1776)
6. Average from Hearing Review right of Fig 29 ($1893); Hearing Journal Fig 5 ($1836)
7. Average from Hearing Review right of Fig 28, 3rd panel ($1904); Hearing Journal ($1912)
8. Hearing Journal, 1st paragraph
9. Estimated by multiplying Marketrak data by 1.22% to adjust for discounts, 3rd party, and VA
10. Hearing Journal, Fig 8
11. Phonak survey report,{{1}}[[1]]Conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting LLC, sponsored by Phonak LLC.[[1]] , median data reported in Fig 9
12. Phonak survey report (same as item 11), median data for gross revenue per hearing aid multiplied by median number of aids dispensed.
(editor’s note: this is Part 4 in the multi-year Hearing Aid Pricing series. Click here for Part 3 or Part 5)
Images courtesy of helping you harmonize
I think it’s inevitable that the upward trend line will start to normalize and get flatter. The current market forces in play are going to begin dropping that trend line closer to CPI…albeit not nearly as much as the average consumer would like it to be…
Agreed, otherwise all those Economic laws of Supply and Demand just go out the window.