5 Ways to Amplify Hearing Health Awareness in Your Practice

Key Takeaways

• Fall is an ideal time to promote hearing health awareness by educating patients on the importance of proactive care and addressing misconceptions, especially among younger adults.
• In-office communication, digital marketing and community partnerships can help engage diverse audiences and encourage regular hearing screenings.
• Discuss financing options openly to help ease cost concerns, making hearing care and devices more accessible for patients.

As a hearing healthcare professional, it’s never been a more important time to promote hearing health awareness. Hearing loss is becoming more prevalent, increasingly among younger patients, and many people do not put the same priority on hearing screenings as they do other health appointments.¹ 

As National Audiology Awareness Month kicks off and the health insurance enrollment periods begin, late fall is an opportune time for hearing health practitioners to amplify the importance of proactive hearing care. In addition to the potential for improved outcomes for your patients, practice leaders who implement strategic hearing health awareness initiatives may help develop stronger patient relationships and support practice growth.

Here are some simple strategies to help your practice turn up the volume on hearing healthcare awareness.

Why Hearing Health Awareness Matters

According to Synchrony’s Hearing Health and Loss Prevention Survey, the impact of unaddressed hearing loss and the benefits of proactive hearing care are both evident. Here are just a few of the key findings:¹

• Findings indicate that Gen Z consumers and millennials (25% and 21%, respectively) surveyed agree that hearing impairment only affects older adults. But research estimates that 40% of people under age 30 actually have some level of hearing loss. Attributing to this could be that Gen Z spends double the average time wearing headphones than older groups — 4.2 hours per day. As such, 54% of audiologists say they are seeing more young people with hearing impairments than ever before. 
• Some patients are hesitant to seek hearing care. Patients experience hearing loss symptoms for an average of 2.5 years before seeking care. As for preventive care, only 53% of people said they are likely to get regular hearing checkups to preserve their hearing. 
• Stigmas about hearing devices exist. Just 23% of people surveyed said they would wear a hearing device if it became necessary. 

Leveraging Open Enrollment and End-of-Year Periods for Hearing Health Promotion

Financial barriers could be one reason preventing people from getting needed care. In fact, a majority of audiologists surveyed (77%) cite insurance and financial concerns for why adults ages 18 to 55 don’t get a hearing consultation.¹

Open enrollment periods that take place in the fall are the ideal time to educate patients about the ways in which their hearing care costs can be supplemented by insurance or paid for with their Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Accounts (HSA).

Some examples:

• Patients with FSA may be able to pay for some expenses related to hearing impairment if they qualify as eligible medical expenses, such as hearing devices and special telephone or TV equipment.² Encouraging patients to use up this year’s FSA funds or consider enrolling in their employer-sponsored FSA this fall could help them afford future hearing care in the next calendar year — just a few months away.

• While HSA funds do not have to be used up by the end of the year like an FSA, you can remind patients who have such an account that it can be used to cover qualified medical expenses, such as hearing care.³
• This is a good time to educate patients about what their existing healthcare plans may cover. For example, Medicare allows an audiologist visit once every 12 months for non-acute hearing conditions (like hearing loss that happens over many years). It also covers diagnostic services related to hearing loss that’s treated with surgically implanted hearing devices.⁴

• Private insurance policies may also cover routine hearing exams, though a referral may be necessary depending on a patient’s plan.⁵ 

In-Office Communication Strategies That Drive Awareness

When patients come in for a checkup, it’s the perfect time to communicate with them about the benefits of ongoing care and how it can help prevent future hearing loss. Ultimately, you want your patients to know that hearing is as important as other yearly health appointments, such as eye exams and visits to the dentist​.

Start with some in-house training for all front office staff and audiologists so everyone is sharing consistent messaging. You can also provide visual messaging around the office, whether it’s fact sheet posters, pamphlets patients can take home or digital presentations in the waiting areas.

Finally, build in a few extra minutes during appointments for personalized consultations and Q&A time to help dispel myths and shed some light on different tools for hearing loss prevention. For example, 89% of people surveyed in the Hearing Health and Loss Prevention Survey said they were not aware that there were online hearing tests available.¹

Audiology Marketing Tactics to Engage Patients

In addition to appointment-time conversations, there are other ways to highlight hearing awareness in your community and with prospective patients. Try deploying some of these popular marketing tactics that can reach diverse audiences of different age groups:

• A digital campaign. If you have an email/text contact list, you could send out messaging during National Audiology Awareness Month, reminding people to make their hearing healthcare appointments.

• A practice newsletter. Whether it’s a short article on the warning signs of hearing loss or best practices for safe headphone use, sharing helpful content on a regular basis can help establish your credibility as a trusted hearing care practice. You can do this monthly, quarterly or at whatever frequency works for you, and decide if a print or digital version (or both) will work best.

• Social media. If your practice has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or other platforms, be sure to tap into timely hearing awareness industry events like National Audiology Awareness Month to get your message out. You can also repurpose messaging from other digital campaigns or newsletter content you produce. Patient success stories and patient testimonials can be especially impactful if you’re able to share them.

Community Engagement and Partnerships to Amplify Impact

While digital marketing and patient communication can take you far, getting out into the community and partnering with local organizations may further amplify hearing health awareness messaging and build brand trust and loyalty.

Some ideas to consider:

• Cross-collaborating with other health practices to promote full-body well visits and checkups
• Hosting a free community health screening during a local event
• Visiting local organizations — senior centers, churches, even college campuses — to share targeted messaging about hearing loss prevention

Supporting Patients and Clients With Financing Options

Another aspect of your hearing health awareness initiative is helping patients and clients navigate their financing options. Considering that more than one-third (35%) of people surveyed said a lower cost would increase the chance of wearing a hearing device, it’s a worthwhile conversation to have.¹ 

The CareCredit credit card is a tool that is helping patients and clients move forward with the hearing care they may want or need. Promoting such financing options alongside general hearing health awareness can help reduce one of the main barriers to care. In fact, 58% of hearing-impaired consumers like the idea of being able to finance the cost of a device.¹

Get Loud and Proud With Hearing Health Awareness 

Raising hearing health awareness in a proactive way can benefit your practice as well as your patients’ hearing health. Arming patients with the right information and financing options to help them manage the cost of care could reduce some of the hesitancy around making regular hearing appointments or seeking consultation about hearing devices.

A Patient Financing Solution for Your Hearing Care Practice

If you want to help your patients manage the cost of your practice’s exams, procedures and products, consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay for things like hearing care services and devices over time while helping to enhance the payments process for your practice.

When you accept CareCredit, patients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a patient financing solution for your hearing care practice or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Dawn Papandrea is a journalist with more than two decades of experience covering personal finance and consumer issues. She has written for leading financial publications and organizations, including U.S. News & World Report, Investopedia, BankRate and others.

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