Wireless Hearing Solutions Document: Story

Incorporating Home looping into your practice: a case study
Bill and Christine Diles are Audiologists with two practices located in Northern California. A few years ago, they read an intriguing article about inductive looping written by David Myers. Dr. Myers, a hearing aid user and university professor, had experienced the benefits of inductive loops in many venues in Europe and was so excited that he began a crusade to "Loop America." Bill and Chris embarked on a journey of their own to incorporate inductive looping into their already successful practices.
They had been demonstrating home loops to patients for many years and had been providing it for home application on an inconsistent basis due to the perceived challenges of home installation. The benefits of wireless hearing were obvious and the reports from those patients that could install home loops were always extremely positive, but installation on a larger scale seemed to be the barrier that kept them from providing it on a routine basis.
Inspired by David's story and the reports from their own patients they decided to get this technology into more patient's homes. They placed a loop in the patient reception areaof their office. Now, each patient could experience the clear and direct signal from the TV while they waited for their appointment. Also, during each fitting, Bill demonstrated the improved speech intelligibility with wireless connectivity to the television and began selling more home loops. His 17 year old son learned to complete the home installations effectively in less than 60 minutes. This convinced Bill and Christine that installation was not really a barrier at all. As with the early "handy" patients, those with home loops were much more satisfied. Bill had fewer returns, happier users, and a way to differentiate his practice in the area.
At this point, Bill decided to try a different approach. He understood that if patients were more satisfied with how well they were hearing their TV, they would almost certainly be more satisfied with their hearing aids. He adjusted the prices of hearing aids slightly and included (or bundled) a home loop with every hearing aid purchase. This way, there was no need to try to "sell" it to patients as they would receive it as part of the hearing aid purchase. To acquire empirical data to support the anecdotal evidence, he conducted a survey of 71 patients before and after loop installation. The results of this survey were extraordinary. Patient satisfaction with TV viewing went up. More importantly hearing aid satisfaction went up substantially as well. Figures 1 and 2 below depict these results.
Bill began his home looping movement simply to provide a better experience for his patients. Like all hearing professionals, he understood that when someone purchased hearing aids they expected them to improve hearing in a wide range of situations. Bill was frustrated that patients were still not enjoying television at home even after being fitting with expensive state-of-the-art digital hearing aids. Since telling them that they had to take them off to put on another device, such as an infrared system made them question their purchase, it seemed like a poor solution and diminished overall satisfaction. Wireless, hearing aid compatible connectivity was a better way.
Figure 1 - Television Satisfaction
Figure 2 - Hearing Aid Satisfaction
Bill and Christine's offices have provided wireless solutions for over 900 homes in the past two years. There are now 900 places where their practice and services can be talked about and experienced by hearing aid users with telecoils. Bill says, "It's like having 900 demo rooms". They have also begun to provide wireless solutions for public venues to help their patients outside the home. This year Bill's practices have installed inductive loops in 32 bank counters, 2 senior community centers, 5 movie theaters, 2 churches, and a pharmacy and a physicians office.
This list continues to grow each month. Bill's patients know that they can count on him to provide them a better hearing experience in their homes and around the community. They are excited to tell their friends about the terrific service and experience that they have with Bill and Christine. "When fitting a patient, its great to list the places around town where they can experience wireless connections to their devices", says Diles "We enjoy giving them free movie passes and look forward to their comments on the follow up visit", Diles adds. Delivering wireless hearing for his patients during the trial period has resulted in a 0% return rate for the past 6 months.
The Diles' patients, and people in the area, are now talking about the importance of inductive looping for better hearing and increased access for the community. As a result, there are many public speaking invitations and press releases. As the community becomes more educated, the movement continues to gain momentum.
The outcome of this strategy has been a rapidly growing practice with a very unique proposition for patients. Besides purchasing great hearing aids, the patients get a loop system that not only improves hearing at home (The average American watches television 4-5 hours a day) but connects them to their world outside the home. Bill's practice is now different from any others in the area and his patient referrals and patient satisfaction have both increased.

Incorporating Home looping into your practice: a case study