Industry Reacts to Growing Internet Hearing Aid Sales

I guess it's no surprise that the hearing aid industry is reacting to the growing trend for people to buy hearing aids over the Internet rather than through a traditional dispenser. A website called BoycottInternetHearingAidSales.com is one of the tools being used in this battle. I was surprised to learn that some of the Sonova companies are among those targeted by this campaign. (Sonova owns Phonak, among other hearing healthcare companies). And there seems to be some pushback on the "fee for service" model - where the providers get paid for the services they perform, rather than a bundled fee that supposedly includes all services associated with a hearing aid.

"The Hearing Review" included a couple of short articles to whet your appetite. Point your browser to
http://www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2011-03_08.asp
and look for the titles:
"Boycott of Internet hearing aids garners support...and controversy"
"Sonova companies object that they're wrongly targeted"