Shi-Ku Chishiki
11-05-2008, 03:55 PM
This is a question I found posted on another HA forum board. A HA user asked:
"I was wondering if one day a person will be able to make their own adjustments with the home computer. I have a new digital CIC aid called the Nitro from Siemens, which is for severe hearing loss. My hearing changes constantly and I have to go back to have adjustments quite a bit. Sometimes I have to wait 2 weeks for an appointment. If I could do it myself, I could make the changes that I need. Do you see anything like this on the horizon?
Here is the answer given to the HA user by a licensed Audiologist:
"Currently this is NOT possible. Undoubtedly the technology will someday allow for this. However, there may be other barriers. Most states have license laws for hearing-aid dispensing, and for those types of changes, the consumer may actually be violating law by practicing without a license. There may be other governmental legal issues to making those changes by Internet."
"While it may be tempting to cut out the "middle man" in the process, please realize that there is a science to dispensing and someone without the proper training can wind up setting the patient's (own) devices to a level that can be dangerous and cause a noise-induced hearing loss. Perhaps this will someday be worked out in a way in which the audiologist dispenser will be able to legally make adjustments to a patient's hearing aids via a remote location. This would not be unique to audiology; in fact telehealth is gaining momentum in other disciplines such as health and nutrition, and speech-language pathology. It's quite possible that this or some similar modification of remote practice will be a significant part of the future of audiology. At this time, the commercial technology does not allow for it, and there are potential legal hurdles to conquer."
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The first thing I noticed about the answers from the Audiologist was..
1.) "Currently this is not possible." (That's funny because it's being done by a few companies right now.)
2.) "Most states have license laws for those types of changes. The consumer may actually be violating law by practicing without a license." (I'm NOT a lawyer, but even I know that's NOT true. A HA owner/user can make any adjustment to their OWN units any time they want to.. even if it means taking a hammer and chisel to them. There's NO law against it.)
3.) "At this time, the commercial technology does not allow for it, and there are potential legal hurdles to conquer." (The B.S. continues. See my comments above.)
What is it about the HA industry and Audiologist? What are they so afraid of that they need to lie about it? Are they that afraid that HA users are going to take their jobs away from them?
Shi-Ku Chishiki ShiKu.Chishiki@Gmail.com
"I was wondering if one day a person will be able to make their own adjustments with the home computer. I have a new digital CIC aid called the Nitro from Siemens, which is for severe hearing loss. My hearing changes constantly and I have to go back to have adjustments quite a bit. Sometimes I have to wait 2 weeks for an appointment. If I could do it myself, I could make the changes that I need. Do you see anything like this on the horizon?
Here is the answer given to the HA user by a licensed Audiologist:
"Currently this is NOT possible. Undoubtedly the technology will someday allow for this. However, there may be other barriers. Most states have license laws for hearing-aid dispensing, and for those types of changes, the consumer may actually be violating law by practicing without a license. There may be other governmental legal issues to making those changes by Internet."
"While it may be tempting to cut out the "middle man" in the process, please realize that there is a science to dispensing and someone without the proper training can wind up setting the patient's (own) devices to a level that can be dangerous and cause a noise-induced hearing loss. Perhaps this will someday be worked out in a way in which the audiologist dispenser will be able to legally make adjustments to a patient's hearing aids via a remote location. This would not be unique to audiology; in fact telehealth is gaining momentum in other disciplines such as health and nutrition, and speech-language pathology. It's quite possible that this or some similar modification of remote practice will be a significant part of the future of audiology. At this time, the commercial technology does not allow for it, and there are potential legal hurdles to conquer."
************************************************
The first thing I noticed about the answers from the Audiologist was..
1.) "Currently this is not possible." (That's funny because it's being done by a few companies right now.)
2.) "Most states have license laws for those types of changes. The consumer may actually be violating law by practicing without a license." (I'm NOT a lawyer, but even I know that's NOT true. A HA owner/user can make any adjustment to their OWN units any time they want to.. even if it means taking a hammer and chisel to them. There's NO law against it.)
3.) "At this time, the commercial technology does not allow for it, and there are potential legal hurdles to conquer." (The B.S. continues. See my comments above.)
What is it about the HA industry and Audiologist? What are they so afraid of that they need to lie about it? Are they that afraid that HA users are going to take their jobs away from them?
Shi-Ku Chishiki ShiKu.Chishiki@Gmail.com