Category: transistor technology

Are Hearing Aids Getting Pricier?

Holly Hosford-Dunn 3 Comments Anchor Price / Audiology / Audiology Membership Organizations / Better Hearing Institute / Capital / Capital-biased / Classical Economics / Competitive Market / Consumer Price Index (CPI) / Costco / Demand / Economics / factors of production / Goods Market / Hearing Aid Manufacturers / Hearing Aid Patents / Hearing aids / Hearing healthcare / Hearing Industry Assn (HIA) / Internet hearing aid sales / Jay McSpaden PhD / Labor / market growth / MarkeTrak Surveys / Monopoly / Output/GNP / Perceptual Anchor Point / Price / Price Maker / Price Taker / Pricing / Productivity / Supply Side / Supply Side Shocks / Surplus / Technological Progress / Technology / transistor technology / US Patents

“The hearing aid industry uses every new thing, like digital or a new algorithm, to raise prices.”  CEO of a manufacturer of low-cost, app-smart hearing aids. Really?  Is the hearing aid industry conniving and villainous to consumers?  Do hearing aids really cost $6000/pair? If so, why has that rule of thumb stayed constant for a…

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Regulation of Hearing Aids in the US, part 2

Holly Hosford-Dunn Audiology / Beltone / Carbon Microphone / Dahlberg / Eye Glasses Hearing Aids / Hearing Aid Manufacturers / Hearing Aid Patents / Hearing aids / Miracle Ear / Motorola / Sonotone / transistor technology / vacuum tubes / Walter Reed Army Hospital

Electronic Hearing Aids At the turn of the 19th century, hearing aids underwent a technological revolution by emulating telephone technology.  The first electronic hearing aids used carbon microphones that modulated electrical current in response to sound pressure variations. Hearing Aids Become a Business Batteries and electronic components created a market for wearable amplification among people…

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