Hearing Economics

I really like your article and it certainly points out a key problem.  The only leverage the big 6 have is what we gave them. We need to all work together. The internet and baby boomers create an amazing opportunity but business as usual won’t cut it.  –  Private comment from a previous post And I really like comments from people

“None shall pass.”    …   “I’ve had worse.”  Monty Python’s Black Knight The Black Knight’s utterances joust with each other, which makes for a very funny video. His stance–and lack thereof–conjure up images in my mind of the hearing aid industry and Audiologists.  Our Big 6 set formidable entry barriers, determined that none shall pass.  Independent Audiologists give up

“My position on cake is pro-having it, and pro-eating it.”  Boris Johnson, colorful British politician I’m with Boris and Marie on that one — cake for all… who can afford it.  And I want to make all the cakes.  In short, I’m a born Monopolist.  I’ll bet you are too.  So, why aren’t we all making cake and money hand

The Rant:  “What gets me is that you see some of the Big 6 companies shipping most of their remaining production to China from the US and Europe. And yet we are still paying the same, even more in most cases. Something doesn’t add up! 6 companies+98% of global market= MONOPOLY!”  comment on a previous post  The Economic Reply:  ” Not

We’ve graduated from Econ 101.  It’s time to take on Price Takers — companies that can influence Price to optimize their profits.   That’s going to take a few posts, starting with a rehash of  Econ 101 posts today.  Apologies to those who don’t like going into the weeds, but you really can’t talk about economic pricing without knowing the

Everybody needs a break, even bloggers and those who read them.  The lazy days of summer call for beach reads, not blogs.  Writers like Carl Hiassen–himself a prolific columnist for the Miami Herald— know this and churn out hilarious, diverting books for the beach. Mr. Hiassen writes darkly comedic crime novels in which weirdly bad people do weirdly bad things

Today’s post is from Guest Editor Harvey Abrams, PhD.  He picks up the hearing aid Pricing issue with a vengeance, continuing our ongoing discussion and economic analysis of Price in the industry.  The Starkey Hearing Blogs ran Dr Abram’s post on June 14, 2013 and graciously gave him permission to reformat and publish it at Hearing Economics as well.  It’s

Patent reform just got sexy in the US Congress as politicians tout “innovation, not litigation, [a]s a bipartisan goal.”  Hearing Economics did some foreshadowing of this trend based on recent patent fights in our little industry that didn’t go so well.  New hearing device patent approvals for the last two months are shown in the table below.  Click on Mar-April 2013, Jan-Feb

Are IntriCon (IIN:US) and Hi HealthInnovations still in love? The Brangelina of Audiology is rarely heard from nowadays, after almost two years together.  Hearing Economics’ interest was piqued last week when IntriCon quietly notified the SEC (US SEC Form 8-K Current Report, June 12 2013) of planned lay-offs and global strategic restructuring. The Backstory IntriCon jumped on our screen last year after it jumped into bed

A Shocking Picture   Residential AuD programs are a tough sell.  That’s the self-evident interpretation of  our survey analyses over the past three posts by Guest Editor Kevin Liebe, AuD, summarized in Figure 1 (below).    Moreover, degrees that are equivalent in the marketplace in terms of authority to practice under state licensure come with widely disparate price tags:   transitional