The New Number is 31.5 Million

Dr. Douglas L. Beck, Editor-In-Chief of Audiology Online, gratefully acknowledges and appreciates the excellent work and spirit of collaboration demonstrated by Carole Rogin (HIA), Karl Strom (Hearing Review) and Sergei Kochkin (BHI) for allowing us to publish this excerpt from the upcoming article in the July, 2005 issue of the Hearing Review....

The first installation of MarkeTrak VII, funded for the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) by Knowles Electronics, Inc. is complete. The Key Findings - The hearing loss population has grown from 28 million to 31.5 million people with continued major increases in the "baby boomer" and elderly, 75+ age brackets.

Other Major Findings:

• Hearing instrument adoption continues to increase, with most growth among Veterans and through direct mail.
  
  
• The new user rate has increased to 39% while the average age of the consumer has increased to nearly 70 and their income has increased to $55k.
  
  
• The binaural rate continues to improve and is now at 86%.
  
  
• Overall customer satisfaction with new hearing instruments is 77%, placing this product in the top third of products and services in the United States.

MarkeTrak VII will be published in the July 2005 issue of The Hearing Review.