Soundly’s Hearing Aid Marketplace In Pole Position To Take Advantage Of New FDA Rules

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Soundly’s Hearing Aid Marketplace In Pole Position To Take Advantage Of New FDA Rules Gus Alexiou Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I write about accessibility, inclusion and social justice. New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Aug 31, 2022, 05:45pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Soundly Hearing Aid Try On Soundly Currently, there are seismic shifts afoot in the U. S. hearing health market thanks to a long-awaited FDA ruling announced earlier this month.

The updated regulations will create a new category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids which consumers with mild to moderate hearing loss will be able to purchase directly from retailers without the need for an examination, a prescription and the oversight of an audiologist. The new system, several years in the making, carries with it the intention of spurring competition and innovation in the market whilst, at the same time, lowering costs for consumers. The flip side of these otherwise welcome advancements is that consumers will now be confronted with even more choices and products within a healthcare space that was already somewhat confusing and complex to navigate.

Clarity for consumers One company that is determined to help straighten the kinks in this too often tangled customer journey is Soundly – a brand new online marketplace that launched in May with the sole purpose of making the acquisition of hearing aids a faster, cheaper and more informed process. MORE FOR YOU Stuff You Shouldn’t Say To Disabled People 3 Ways Disability Culture Has Been Changing I’m Right And You’re Wrong: Social Media Sins In a market where reliable consumer product information is somewhat scattered and inaccessible, Soundly has made concerted efforts to curate, condense and integrate information on different devices within one simple-to-use hub. In addition to purchasing hearing aids at highly competitive rates, customers can quickly compare pricing and features from major brands like Widex, Oticon and Sigma, as well as read product reviews written by other users and hearing health professionals.

The browsing experience is more holistic still – with customers able to take an advanced online hearing test. Crucially, Soundly, though ideally suited to the newly expanded over-the-counter environment, is certainly not attempting to sidestep the often vitally important oversight of audiologists. For visitors in search of a professional examination, Soundly can link them up by location to over 5,000 audiologists working around the country – thereby ensuring that both ends of the care pathway are well covered.

The hearing aid marketplace is the brainchild of Soundly founder and CEO Blake Cadwell. Cadwell has a family history of hearing loss and began to notice his own hearing issues worsening during the pandemic when people wearing face masks and the increase in online meetings brought home to him the extent to which he had been relying on lip reading to compensate. He was inspired to start Soundly after witnessing first-hand the complexities of undertaking online research to help him identify what might be the most suitable device for him.

“I consider myself to be a fairly tech-savvy person but when I sat down to do the research it took me 10-12 hours just to figure out who the key players were and what options I had,” says Cadwell. Illustrating the types of hurdles a typical lay user has to overcome, Cadwell explains, “There were over 100 different models of hearing aid to choose from but what makes it truly mind-numbing for the consumer is that the vast majority of these are made by the same five companies. “They just white label the same product over and over again.

They put different labels on the same product – different prices, different distribution models, different levels of care but, in essence, it’s the same base product. ” Soundly has attempted to tackle this pain point on its platform by excluding some of these off-shoot duplicate products and, instead, only featuring the most popular and reasonably priced versions. The inherent difficulty in customers developing a solid market overview and thereby making confident purchasing choices is a familiar element to Ben Thompson AuD, a Doctor of Audiology and Founder of San Francisco-based Treble Health.

“Consumers are increasingly turning to online channels to better understand their hearing health options. Historically, the information available to them has been confusing. Transparent and audiology-backed resources will be even more important as new products from the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act become available in late 2022,” says Thompson.

Costly choices With the average user needing to spend around $4,500 every 3-5 years on hearing aids – it’s simply a purchasing decision very few can afford to get wrong. Working directly with an audiologist offsets some of these risks but extra costs are incurred in consultation fees and product choices are likely to be limited to the brands the audiologist deals with. Cadwell believes that, in 2022, patients of all types are demanding more personal control when it comes to their health and well-being.

“Nowadays, consumers are changing their behaviors and are more proactive about their healthcare. They often want to undertake their own research and make informed choices. It’s just a natural shift we’re seeing in healthcare across the United States,” he explains.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders around 30 million adults in the U. S. could benefit from using hearing aids.

With the proliferation of cheap high-powered headphones for listening to music and other forms of entertainment, the Hearing Loss Association of America says that o ne in five U. S. teens is experiencing some level of hearing loss .

Interestingly, research shows that hearing aid users will wait on average ten years before seeking help with their issues. This may be down to both a reluctance to undertake formal medical evaluations and prohibitive costs. Kicking the can down the road may work for a short time but quality of life issues such as isolation and impaired communication continue to take a toll in the meantime.

Anything that can destigmatize the process of exploring hearing aids – be that reduced costs, increased autonomy and avoiding medical formalities until they become necessary is likely to sound hugely appealing to most folks. Follow me on LinkedIn . Gus Alexiou Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.