It’s time for true price transparency

Dear Australia,

For the past two years we’ve published a letter just like this imploring you to demand price transparency from the audiology industry so that you know how much the journey to better hearing will cost. Well, sadly, we feel the need to write to you again as very little appears to have changed!

More worryingly than the lack of change, though, are the ‘reasons’ that customers can hear from hearing care providers for not being transparent, or to justify their high prices.

“We’ll need to test your hearing first as it’s a highly complex situation with too many variables” some will say. Well, no they don’t, and no it isn’t. It’s the technology that determines the cost of hearing aids and not the level of hearing loss. This is why it’s simple for a provider to publish prices for their range of hearing aids in advance, like we do. Perhaps they’re embarrassed about how high their prices are?

“Our hearing aids are tailored to your specific needs and companies with cheaper prices don’t offer the same quality product” . The truth? Everyone being fitted with hearing aids by an audiology professional in Australia has the product tailored to their needs. In fact, over 95% of the world’s hearing aids are manufactured by only five companies, with Specsavers sourcing the latest hearing aid technology on all our products from the largest three.

“Our audiology professionals are highly qualified experts, so you pay more for their time” . The reality is that the vast majority of hearing care professionals across Australia are experts in their field. At Specsavers, all our audiology professionals are fully qualified and accredited with the Australian Government - and yet we manage to keep our prices down.

The almost 100,000 customers who have purchased hearing aids from Specsavers since our launch a little under 5 years ago know these statements simply aren’t true.

So, Australia. When it comes to expertise and product quality, Specsavers is no different to the rest of the hearing care providers across the country. Except that we put the customer first by ensuring complete transparency of our great, everyday value. So shop around when you’re looking for hearing aids, because price is the only real difference between audiology providers in Australia, and it might just save you or your loved ones thousands.

Yours truly,

Darrel Magna Executive Director and General Manager - Audiology