Hearing aid market chaos survey: the price is really expensive, the model is not right, and you still suffer when you use it

This year's government work report proposes to "improve the care and service system for the elderly and the disabled"
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The "China Hearing Health Report (2021)" shows that the number of middle-aged and elderly people with hearing impairment in China exceeds 25 million, and it is showing a further upward trend
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Hearing aids have gradually become a "just need" for middle-aged and elderly people
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A reporter from Xinhua News Agency found that the quality of hearing aids on the market is mixed, and there are problems such as false advertisements and inflated prices
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In addition, problems such as lack of correct use knowledge and lack of professional fitting personnel also seriously affect the use of hearing aids, and may even seriously damage the user's hearing
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Beware of false advertisements, inflated prices, and missing
fittings Some hearing aids are suspected of false advertising
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Many of the top-selling hearing aids on Taobao claim to have so-called "black technology" functions such as "AI intelligent noise reduction", "12-channel digital chip noise reduction", "8-scene automatic noise reduction" and "nano titanium alloy moving iron speakers"
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Experts said that the actual function of the so-called "black technology" is far from the effect of professional hearing aids
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Professional hearing aids will compensate the sound in different audio frequency bands according to the actual situation of the user's hearing loss to help the user achieve normal hearing
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"Some so-called 'black technology' hearing aids are essentially speakers that can only linearly amplify the sound
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" Some hearing aids are overpriced
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A salesperson from a trading company in Qingdao wore a white coat to set up a sales point in a large local hospital, falsely claiming that the products were imported from Denmark with advanced functions, and sold domestic hearing aids at high prices
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The reporter learned from Ningbo Yinzhou District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau that during market inspections, the bureau found that some hearing aid companies had inflated prices
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Lack of professional fitting, high risk of business misleading
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The customer service staff of Tmall's "Xinsheng Flagship Store" said that a hearing aid model B80P does not require fitting before use
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However, the reporter found that on the official website of the State Drug Administration, in the basic information of the registration certificate of the product number "Fujian Machinery Note 20182190118", the "Scope of Application/Intended Use" column indicates: "Experience matching, for air conduction hearing.
Lost patients can compensate for hearing loss
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" There are also many customer service staff of hearing aid online stores who told reporters that the products sold are "one-button operation, no fitting required", and they can be worn as soon as they are purchased
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The customer service of a hearing aid priced at more than 80 yuan said that the product has two gears, "which gear is used when you can hear clearly"
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A customer service staff of an in-ear hearing aid priced at nearly 500 yuan told reporters that the operation only needs to adjust the volume
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When the reporter raised the issue that the user felt uncomfortable after wearing it for a period of time, the customer service staff of many online stores said: "It is uncomfortable because the long-term deafness is used to being quiet, and it is good to adapt to it
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" "Hearing aids are medical devices
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" Tianjin Wang Wei, Director of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of the First Central Hospital and Director of Tianjin Otolaryngology Institute, reminded that without professional fitting, not only the hearing aid effect may not be achieved, but also the equipment may "amplify the noise", causing residual noise to the user.
Hearing can cause irreversible damage or even deafness
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"Whoever has more rebates will sell it.
" The reporter's investigation found that there are multiple reasons behind the chaos in the sales and use of hearing aids
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- Cognitive biases
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Xi Xin, Secretary General of the Expert Steering Committee of the China Hearing Medicine Development Foundation and Chairman of the Hearing Aid Expert Committee, pointed out that personal sound amplification products specially developed for the elderly to watch TV and listen to distant places can be directly purchased on the market without the intervention of professionals.
It is a hearing aid, not the same as a hearing aid
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He Ning, chief physician of the Department of Otolaryngology of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that there is a professional evaluation process for fitting and debugging before wearing hearing aids.

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Professional fitters should evaluate the decibel of hearing loss in each frequency band based on the hearing curve records generated by the tested person, and select hearing aids with different frequencies accordingly
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Yang Yang, chairman of the China Association of the Deaf, said that ordinary consumers and users often do not understand that hearing aids are medical devices, and professional fitting should be performed to ensure the effect and safety
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This has led many young consumers to think that "expensive is good", while the elderly often think that "just buy one and wear it"
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- Profiteering temptation
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A core business staff member of a hearing aid company in Shanghai told reporters that domestic hearing aids with an ex-factory price of less than 1,000 yuan can be sold in the market for tens of thousands of yuan after the middleman increases the price
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The purchase price of hearing aids sold by a hearing aid company in Ningbo is 12,590 yuan/piece is actually 1932.
3 yuan/piece, and the purchase price of hearing aids priced at 38,900 yuan/piece is actually 4864.
65 yuan/piece
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- Lack of fitting professionals
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At present, the number of certified hearing aid dispensers at all levels in China is only about 10,000, which is difficult to meet the needs of the market
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Li Genping, deputy director of the Department of Otolaryngology of the Army Specialty Medical Center of the Army Medical University, said that some hearing aid dispensers have insufficient qualifications or insufficient experience
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The reporter found that some fitting personnel only went to work after simple training by hearing aid manufacturers, which did not meet the requirements of relevant occupational skill standards
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These people tend to "sell the hearing aids of those who give more rebates"
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——The industry-related norms and supervision are not in place
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The article "Illustration: What You Need to Know About Hearing Aids" on the official website of the State Drug Administration emphasizes that hearing aids cannot be purchased casually
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In addition, regular follow-up visits and regular debugging of hearing aids can achieve the best compensation state
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However, the reporter also found that there are no regulatory constraints on whether hearing aids should be used after fitting
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There is also a lack of rigid constraints on the professional qualifications of fitting personnel
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The clerk of a hearing aid store in Yuzhong District, Chongqing told reporters that the hearing aids can be employed without a license
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"The national standard was released in 2010, and it is difficult to match the current technological progress and the pace of industrial renewal
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In addition, professional service standards for fitting have not been published
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To change "it's not easy to use, so I don't want to use it", experts suggest to improve the level of industry norms The profit ratio is only 6.
5%
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Wang Wei said that many elderly people have experienced severe discomfort from wearing unprepared hearing aids, and they have greater psychological resistance to hearing aids and no longer wear hearing aids
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Improving the standardization of the use of hearing aids for fitting will not only help improve the benefit rate of people who should wear hearing aids, but also help prevent and timely alleviate diseases such as Alzheimer's disease
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Zhang Hong, the Quality Supervision Office of the China Center for Assistive Devices for the Disabled, said that at present, many hearing aids are produced without standard products, lacking core competitiveness, which is not conducive to the high-quality and diversified development of products
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In the long run, the entire industrial structure will be unbalanced and development will be limited
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At present, there are only 3 service standards for hearing aids, and none of them have been officially released.
Most hearing aids are medical devices, and some even need to be implanted into the human body.
Unify and improve the professionalism and standardization of industry practitioners' services to reduce the occurrence of adverse events
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Chen Huaming, chairman of the Tianjin Association for the Deaf, said that compared with the current market needs, on the one hand, there is still a big gap in professionals such as hearing aid dispensers and audiologists in China
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It is recommended to further standardize the training, assessment and certification system of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and establish a certification system for hearing aid dispensers and a stricter supervision and inspection system
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(Participating in the collection and writing: Yu Xiangjin)