Low Tone

As a young salesman, Eugene F. McDonald Jr. hurt his head in an auto accident and became deaf in one ear. When he became the hard-driving boss of Chicago's Zenith Radio Corp., one of the biggest U.S. radiomakers, McDonald was shocked at the price of hearing aids. If a complete radio receiver sold for only $29, why should a simple amplifier (only part of a radio) cost more than six times as much? McDonald thought he could produce hearing aids as cheaply as radios and make them a profitable sideline.

His first hearing aid, an instrument that plugged into a light socket, was all right for desk workers, but no good for anyone moving about. His second, a two-unit set ($40), made him, he claims, the world's biggest producer of hearing aids. But he lost money on them.

Last week McDonald was sure that he had finally tuned in on his market. He announced that Zenith's hearing-aid division had chalked up a handsome profit, though he was mum on the figures (they "were too good to say anything about to competitors").

He also had on sale a new hearing aid, a one-unit set that weighed only half as much (9 oz.) as the old one. The catch was that it sold for almost twice as much ($75). Self-confident Mr. McDonald bragged of a "new revolution in hearing aids." And by selling it by mail, he hoped to tap a huge market which he considers sadly neglected.

Secret Ears. The loudness of McDonald's boasts has set his competitors' teeth on edge. The100-odd makers of U.S. hearing aids are well aware that their market is potentially rich. An estimated 3,000,000 Americans are deaf enough to use hearing aids. But only 800,000 do. One reason is the price. Most units sell for between $100 and $200 and cost the user about $75 to $100 a year for batteries. Another reason is vanity. The hard of hearing hate to admit it.

Many companies worried less about prices than the psychological approach. One method has been to make receivers smaller and less noticeable. Maico Co., Inc. goes after women customers with receivers that look like earrings, costing $231 (TIME, June 16). Beltone Hearing Aid Co. was plugging a 5-oz., 3-in. by 2-in. amplifier as the "world's smallest hearing aid" (price: $167.50). The aid, said Beltone, used the same principle as the proximity fuse developed during the war.

Public Service. Most of the large companies also go in for elaborate service systems. Salesmen, or acousticians, with carefully tuned voices, fit customers with an aid, and help them over the troublesome adjustment period.

Sonotone Corp., which contends that its gross of $11,000,000 last year was bigger than Zenith's, chalked up 40% of its cost to manufacturing, the rest to training of acousticians and patient education. Zenith's McDonald considers all such frills so much mumbo-jumbo to spark sales. He thinks aids should be sold off department-store shelves and by mail order.

Laryngoscope, publication of the American Otological Society, has found that "fitting is wasteful . . . the differentials between instruments that are indicated by most current tests are largely illusory." But, because of the different impairments in hearing and the "psychological problem of teaching the patient how to make the best use of his remaining faculties . . . the selection of an aid may still call for expert advice. But it is likely to turn less on acoustic and more on economic [price] factors."

Zenith's competitors in turn point out that Zenith's aid, although approved by the American Medical Association, still lacks approval of the Veterans Administration. Reason: VA thinks that aids should be sold through dealers, so that customers can test a number of them before buying one.

"The Godsend." Actually, VA has been critical of the entire industry for its advertising. Some of the smaller companies have run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission. Example: the Godsend Hearing Aid Co. of Cincinnati was ordered to stop blaring: "The Godsend ... a perfect hearing aid ... unconditionally guaranteed." The American Medical Association has thumbed down ads which it thought overstated the benefits of the instrument. Said a VA Government expert: "What the industry needs is a code of ethics."

Many customers are disappointed when they find that 1) the aids reproduce the human voice with a metallic clang (with very little difference in voices), 2) a buzzing fly may sound like a dive bomber,

3) adjustments take a long time to learn,

4) batteries have a way of going dead at crucial moments. Most wearers of hearing aids would laugh at the ads--but admit that their machine-made hearing is better than deafness.

By catering to the customers' preference for miniature models, the industry has confined itself to small, acoustically cramped mechanisms which cannot do the job that bigger ones can. Even without this handicap, the industry has a long way to go. Said a Government expert: "The industry is in its technological knee pants. Maybe in ten years [the aid] will grow up into an honest-to-goodness scientific instrument."

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