A Big Boy Made Me Do It And Ran Away

Paraphrasing a famous Scottish saying, Starkey announced that they too are entering into the OTC market. Apparently, everyone is doing it, they don't want to, done with no conviction, they won't even like it! A big boy made me do it! Try telling that to the spouse you cheated on, I dare you hahahahahahah. Anyway, I digress, as I am want to, it's my party and I'll digress if I want to. Where was I?

Oh yes, with that move, it would appear that nearly all of the mainstream hearing aid manufacturers are entering the OTC marketplace with the exception of Demant. Having said that, I would imagine Phillips, Demant's erstwhile partners, are probably eyeing the Sony/WSA move with interest.

Call me Mystic Meg, but I think they will see benefit to moving forward with an OTC strategy, hey, everyone else is doing it! Anyway, should we see this a bad thing? I know consumers won't. I think you all know how I feel, I think OTC can be a good thing for the Audiological profession. However, there are caveats.

I think OTC will be good for the profession only if the profession engages with them and the consumers who want them. With the entry of the mainstream manufacturers, admittedly in differing guises, we can be sure that the devices in question are decent enough, probably reliable enough and finally there may be an exisiting repair chain.

At present, many of the manufacturer driven OTC devices are priced higher than I think consumers are willing to pay. For instance, the Sony rechargeable version is close to thirteen hundred. This is ballpark entry level traditional hearing aids. That may be a bit too rich for some of the consumers who were looking to take advantage of this market.

I think a good question is whether OTC aids will evolve to several levels of technology? A nice entry level, a mid and maybe a premium? I don't think that makes sense, at least for the traditional manufacturers, I think the traditional manufacturers see OTC as an entry to more sophisticated traditional hearing aids and hearing care.

That is why the provision of them and dealing with the consumers who are interested in them is the right move for the profession.

That makes sense for many of the manufacturers because of their vertical integration. It also makes a lot of sense for the profession. I think the real question, the big question, is does it make sense for the outsiders entering the market? That will be interesting to watch.