Consumer

Hybrids: Too Quiet for Safety?

Sarah Simpson (2008) noted that hybrids are "delightfully quiet." However, as many pedestrians depend on some level of anticipated car noises (motors, tires, engines) to warn them about oncoming multi-ton vehicles, particularly when crossing city streets, Simpson questioned whether being too quiet might be dangerous.

Bell Labs Closing?

Harvey Fletcher (1884-1981) was one of the most creative and intelligent scientists to impact audiology and hearing aids. Dr. Fletcher produced much of his extraordinary work while directing Bell Labs, created in 1925. Research involving sound, spectrographs, hearing aids, telephones, vacuum tubes amplifiers, mini-vacuum tubes, vibro-tactile devices and perception, word recognition ability, stereo sound, bandwidth, and more was conducted (and much of it originated) in the Bell Telephone Labs in New Jersey.

Brain Myths and One Hearing Hint

Aamodt and Wang (2008) have written a new book titled Welcome to Your Brain. Sandra Aamodt, PhD, is the editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience. Sam Wang, PhD, is an associate professor of neuroscience and molecular biology at Princeton. In their new book, they address facts, myths, and curiosities relating to brains.

MarkeTrakVIII: Consumer Satisfaction Increasing

Kochkin (2010) reports that some 34.25 million people in the United States have hearing impairment. Hearing aid “adoption” rates are approximately 1 in 4. This particular report (within the MarkeTrak VIII series) focuses on the consumer's experience with hearing aids, all of which are less than four years old. Three thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine (3,789) extensive (7-page) surveys were mailed out, 3,174 were returned, representing an amazingly high 84 percent response.

Best Buy Removes Personal Amplification Products from Online Store

According to Audiology Talk and its sources, during the week of October 31, Best Buy removed all personal amplification products from their online store only weeks after shocking the audiology community by offering devices that were very similar to hearing instruments. This action was performed without notice or comment from the electronics chain.

A Million Songs Later

Serra et al (2012) report that music is a "human universal, involving perceptually discrete elements displaying organization." They note, if you had seven years with nothing to do (and presuming you didn’t sleep) you might choose to listen to one million songs recorded from 1955 to 2010. And, if you did, you could make some observations and draw some conclusions.

Perceived Value, Purchase Intent, and Attracting First-Time Users

Beck and Kochkin (2013) report their updated "best estimate," which states that some 35 million people in the United States have hearing loss (see Kochkin et al, 2010). Beck (2012) reported that first-time users (FTUs) are the same age as experienced users (70 years old) and both groups (FTUs and experienced users) have similar hearing aid experiences (with regard to own voice, occlusion, amplification of high frequency sounds and more).