By Samantha in Hearing Aids, Featured
One word: Regulation. Here’s the scoop:
In 1977, the Hearing Aid Rule was passed by the Food and Drug Administration to set up boundaries of who can sell hearing aids. The rule was passed to protect consumers from aggressive sales people who were selling hearing aids to people that didn’t need them. In several reported cases, people with hearing loss had medical issues like infections, nerve tumors or excessive ear wax, and didn’t need hearing aids. The FDA felt that requiring a medical exam prior to purchasing hearing aids would eliminate these abuses.
This meant that only two groups of people could sell hearing aids: a state-licensed hearing aid dispenser and audiologists. State-licensed dispensers have to prove their competence to administer hearing exams, fit devices and recognize underlying physical problems and are required to have a high-school diploma. Audiologists must have at least a master’s degree, though they generally aren’t medical doctors. After the FDA rule went into effect, audiologists changed their professional code of ethics and began to sell hearing aids.
So now, we have a tightly controlled distribution system of who can sell hearing aids. The excuse that these groups use in charging high prices for hearing aids is the education, testing and regulations required to do so. This reason does not sit well with many hearing aid consumers. In fact, the high cost prevents many people who need hearing aids from purchasing them (only one in five people that need hearing aids, get them, according to BHI).
But there is more to the story. Both sides of the discussion have points that are easy counterbalanced by the other.
Read the rest
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By Samantha in Entertainment, Activism
Closed captioning…we love closed captioning. We need closed captioning!!
Increasingly, online video content is becoming integral to our lives streaming shows straight to our desktops and dvrs. Unfortunately, our current legislation does not require captioning to be included in this distribution. And so, it isn’t.
In fact, captioning availability is going backwards. Recently Disney/Pixar stripped their rental dvds of captioning making this part of its “bonus features.” You only get the bonus features if you buy the dvd. Many other movie production houses are planning on following suit.
Current legislation requires captioning technology to be available to television and telephone users. These laws need to be revised to include changing and emerging technologies including television and movies distributed over the internet as well as other reasonable outlets of video content.
Please ensure that closed captioning survives by signing this petition.
(I have only covered the entertainment portion of what this bill will do, as that is the part that effects me the most. But for people that can not communicate via telephone like I can, this bill will help in very immediate and critical ways. Read more here.)
By Samantha in Hearing Aids, Featured
In July, 2009, Consumer Reports sent 12 people with hearing loss to buy multiple sets of hearing aids over six months. They found that two-thirds of the 48 devices purchased were either the wrong kind of hearing aid or not properly adjusted for the people buying them. Most of the aids were either turned up too high, or not high enough. Hearing aids turned too high can cause more ear damage. Hearing aids turned to low lead to frustration and ultimately rejection of the device.
Here’s how to ensure you get the right aids for you: Read the rest
