A Consumer Reports Magazine investigation of hearing-aid sales and fitting practices found that resellers commonly mark up the prices of new hearing aids more than 100 percent over the wholesale prices paid to manufacturers. In a major report published in the magazine’s July issue, Consumer Reports editors followed a dozen hearing-impaired patients for 6 months as they shopped for and used hearing aids, lab-testing the features of 44 hearing aids. The magazine’s National Research Center also conducted a survey of 1,100 Americans who had bought a hearing aid in the last three years.
“Consumer Reports verified the wholesale price of several of the hearing aids tested, finding on average a markup of 117 percent,” the magazine said in a news release. “This means that there is room to bargain,” said Consumer Reports Senior Editor Tobie Stanger, who added that only 15 percent of survey participants negotiated for a lower price.
Consumer Reports also found that most hearing-aid purchasers they tracked got what it called “mediocre” fittings. “Two-thirds of the 48 aids purchased were misfit: They amplified too little or too much,” the news release said. However, even with substandard fittings, the survey indicated that the hearing-aid industry has started to overcome past problems with customer satisfaction by finally delivering hearing assistance that actually helps users hear better: 73 percent of the users who bought hearing aids were highly satisfied.
The prices of the hearing aids in the Consumer Reports investigation ranged from $1,800 to $6,800 per pair. Currently most hearing aids are sold by manufacturers to audiologists, who resell the products while providing essential services such as a hearing test, fitting, programming the amplification settings to match the patient’s unique hearing profile, and providing warranty repair service. Audiologists justify the mark-up over the manufacturers’ wholesale prices by providing service as part of a set price for the hearing aids.