Christo Fourie, clinical Audiologist, and owner of Value Hearing has created a Hearing Aid Buyers Companion for every Australian to read and carry with them throughout their hearing journey. This is a comprehensive guide to hearing loss and hearing care in Australia.
This guide follows you on your journey from identifying if you have a hearing loss, to making the right hearing aid decision for you and everything in between.
We know that the hearing care profession can be a confusing industry to navigate on your own. We understand that no one truly WANTS hearing aids, but we all want to be able to easily connect and converse with loved ones and strangers.
Hearing loss can be isolating and hearing loss that is left untreated can lead to depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Research has also shown people with untreated hearing loss are at an increased risk of falls, dementia, and general cognitive decline.
With this research, studies have found that less than 20% of adults with a hearing loss are using hearing aids. On average, people are waiting seven years after a hearing loss diagnosis to act on their diagnosis and seek treatment. But why is this? We believe people are waiting this long because they feel as though they do not have enough information or support on navigating this new journey.
Our goal is to change these statistics. We want all Australians to feel empowered to make the right decisions for their health and hearing. We would like all Australians to feel supported on their hearing care journey and to have every questioned answered throughout this process. Far too often we see clients who’s hearing aids have been sitting in a drawer or they are disappointed with the money that they have spent on hearing care. Hearing aids can connect you to the people you love, to reverse cognitive deterioration and reduce your risk of falls and injury. These devices are far too powerful and far too expensive to sit in a drawer for years on end.
Unfortunately, in Australia, over 80% of the hearing aid industry is dominated by large international organisations and manufacturers, while independent hearing care specialists, make up less than 10% of the market. This means that as a consumer, there is great difficulty in navigating “salespeople” from hearing care professionals. But the control is in your hands with the information that is made available to you. People with hearing loss can do their own research and discover what is best for them, without being pushed to spend exuberant amounts of money on hearing aids they do not need.
The price of hearing aids differ depending on the level of technology that is within the hearing aid device, the level of your hearing loss and your ability to understand speech in noise. We have created this Hearing Aid Buyers Companion so that you can go into your hearing appointments feeling educated and supported in the decisions that you need to make and the money that you spend. Before commencing your hearing journey, it is important to understand how to identify if a clinic is the right hearing aid clinic for you, voucher programs to assist with paying for devices and understanding what you are entitled to with the purchase of hearing aids.
If you would like to read more about hearing loss and the hearing aid journey, the Hearing Aid Buyers Companion is available here to download