Comment by astroid | Hacker News Reader

Comment by astroid | Hacker News Reader

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Why not use a different term? These are quite literally different products and product classes.

I'm all for easier access to medical assistance devices -- I am against the erosion of established terms for political points, especially when it leads to ridiculous statements like you just made:

"My parents just got absolutely robbed buying hearing aids for my great aunt that I’m sure cost in the tens of dollars to manufacture." -- this shows you know nothing about hearing aids and the absolute bleeding edge technology that goes into real ones.

I'm sure it cost a lot and it hurt to pay the price. I'm not arguing these products shouldn't be available -- I'm arguing it's essentially false advertising to lump them in with 'hearing aids' especially with the FDA badge of approval.

Give the consumers choice - but don't hide that choice behind falsely equating the product classes. Make it clear they are in fact getting lower end everything, and that's why the price is so low. And make it clear that without an audiologist, you are at risk of damaging your own hearing and eliminating or worsening additinoal frequencies if tuned improperly.

Then let the consumer decide. Simple.

My bad. They are between $100-$300 to manufacture according to this article and a few others I found - https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-06-08/column-hea...

They are then marked up 1,100%.

If this new AirPods feature helps me hear better it quite literally becomes a device that ‘aids’ my ‘hearing.’ Why should Apple or others be forced to claim otherwise? Why should consumers have to learn a new term? Because it upsets companies enjoying over 1,000% markups? No thanks.

Because your airpods and OTC hearing aids are using about half the number of microphones and speakers, with half the quality, and with an amplifier with about half the cost and quality as well. Airpods actualy do a little better than the 'OTC Costco' type amplifiers.

The lower quality amplifier means worse ability to tune, which trickles down to the other products.

The markup is probably closer to 300% which is no more egregious than Apple in this case (probably less tbh given their $2,000 wheels and $2,000 ram) -- with REAL hearing aids costing about $350-700 to manufacture for the more entry level 'real ones', which can go up as those components increase in quality.

Note the source you used also going back to early pandemic times, before the world experienced 30-40% inflation on everything. AND it's quoting a 2015 report. This is USELESS in terms of evaluating a comparison today.

NO ONE has tried to say Apple shouldn't be able to offer these products -- I have enthusiastically supported all of the developments assuming the consumer is fully informed. This is not happening, by design.

And then you have people like you with complete blinders on pretending its 'A or B' when its really 'A-Z'.

There is nothing wrong with critiquing the WAY a change happened, especially given all the other 'definition' changes we have been subjected to forcefully by the media and the state the last 5-7 years.

Go ahead and buy use 'acceptable' hearing assistance devices with apple, from costco, or wherever you feel like you are getting a bargain on your physical and mental health.

It's doing a huge dis-service to those who actually want a rock-solid product and to avoid succumbing to dementia because they can't hear anymore because they just kept jacking up the volume on their apple "hearing aids" (lol).

Anyway I'm done here because you have tunnel vision and are only latching onto shit to argue about instaed of the whole message. Enjoy your hearing-loss-induced dementia!

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