Service Satisfaction Among Hearing Aid Users

By Dr. Megan Myers-Aura, Au.D., CCC-A and Michelle Mitchell

When you think about hearing aid satisfaction among wearers - what important aspects do you think of? Cosmetics? Quality? Functionality? Service? Consumer satisfaction? A study that was conducted by Sergei Kochkin researched the top factors that correlated with overall hearing instrument satisfaction. Consumer satisfaction is a judgment made by a person after he or she has purchased a product or service. Consumers reach their judgment by comparing their pre-purchase expectation with their post-purchase evaluation of the product and/or service experience.

Over-the-counter hearing aids have recently hit the shelves. Recent webinars have stressed the importance of educating patients to understand a critical difference between the over-the-counter hearing aids and the third-party administrators. What is missing from these two is the element of the hearing healthcare professional; and all of the services they provide. The third-party administrators include the use of our Audiologists in the fit and follow-up service; they truly do not allow for an actual treatment plan to be implemented. In considering over the counter hearing aids, the hearing healthcare professional is taken out of the equation entirely. We at Swift Audiology do practice patient centered care, a hallmark of healthcare professionalism. Much of what we do and how we do it comes from the healthcare perspective.

The study conducted by Sergei Kochkin regarding consumer customer service satisfaction found that service skills of the hearing professional are a critical component in providing patients with overall satisfaction with amplification. In other words, “getting it right” means more than matching a prescriptive fitting target or providing the patient with maximum hearing aid performance by means of fine-tuning and counseling. If the service is taken out of the equation whether it is from over-the-counter hearing aids or by the limited service of the third-party administrators, this can cause a lot of frustration from the hearing aid user towards hearing aids.

Licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, our hearing healthcare professionals are required to undergo specialized education and clinical time to qualify and be certified. Our Doctors of Audiology go through 8 years of schooling, numerous clinical rotations, on top of rigorous academic training and state exams.

They all must complete continuing education to ensure they are kept up to date with advancements of the field. Our hearing healthcare professionals stay on top of current research, best practices, and involvement in professional organizations. These factors, along with our experience, provides our patients with the best possible hearing healthcare.

At Swift Audiology, we provide patient centered care. In this approach, a patient's specific health needs and desired health outcomes are the driving force behind all health care decisions and quality measurements. Patients are partners with their hearing health care providers, and providers treat patients not only from a clinical perspective, but also from an emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspective. Our actions are directed from compassion and the desire to help others, as well as through evidence-based practice. This is the application of scientific facts, based upon research, to real-life situations.

In our case, we take our experience and education, augmenting that with emerging science to approach hearing loss with the most current, and best practices available. Providing our patients with a treatment plan is the implementation of patient centered care and evidence-based practice.

Dr. Megan Myers-Aura is an Audiologist at Swift Audiology and Michelle Mitchell is an Insurance Specialist, Patient Liaison.

Swift Audiology provides hearing loss services, hearing protection, and medical hearing aid devices to patients at 3 convenient offices throughout the Pittsburgh region. For more information, visit swiftaudiology.com, join us on Facebook at facebook.com/swiftaudiology, or call (724) 726-4149.