Florence Sylvester Center they have one room that's looped and that's the lip-reading class
a lot of the audiologists and hearing aid dispensers have a loop in their
office that you can try with your hearing aids that's a good thing you
still need a microphone even though you have a hearing because I know I have a
hard time understanding people because if they talk the hearing loop works
hearing loop is connected to a PA system a sound system an audio system so it's
hooked up like here anytime you come in this room there are other meetings that
happen in this room if they're using this microphone the hearing loop is
automatically on so okay so I want to introduce you to four Reba for Ibanez
from Cusco in a reminded hearing aid dispenser and she brings the cookies
every week and so let's go to yeah okay
everybody's getting
okay what's a good idea if you could turn your so an Mandel know well she is
the audiology advisor for the hearing world club she's been with me almost
from the very beginning and we work away from the meeting so we have meetings of
our own to help set up these these meetings she will when she's here at the
meeting she will talk to you you can she'll answer your questions so that's
why we invite you to come a little early so that you can you can ask her
questions okay let me we have some microphones I'm not sure for taking
questions now are you gonna wait got me if a question by the head of the deck so
I don't we're hearing it and you have given me this to use I tested it out
while you were talking it was beautifully and I am so sorry why we
don't each one officer already have it because quite often microphone doesn't
work thank you so much I really appreciate she's talking about the
t-coil she's wearing the headset with the coil
so if anybody is not hearing well in the meeting we have a couple more headsets
so if you're not hearing Tony well we can get you one
so Rick would you please
so rip using loop installer installed the loop in this room he installed the
art room he is still clubhouse 2 and the towers I forgot about the towers yes the
towers in their activity room there and and we want to put more loops in the
village sometimes 5 is a good place clubhouse 7 it's up to you you got to
ask for it talk to the clubhouse supervisors and tell them that your just
said that I'm I'm going to work with management and try to get some movement
Rick though he also did Geneva Presbyterian
Church Church of the Masters so he's doing all the looping in the area
several members here also have their TV room looped when you experience how
crystal clear this is would it be wonderful to listen to your TV at home
crystal clear and not bothering your neighbors you don't have to turn that
the TV up really loud and Rick does that so there are cards and he's here to talk
to him he provided the loop listeners today and so he's just been a wonderful
sponsor time okay thank you
I also have to talk to you about caption called CAPTCHA code doesn't have a
representative here but caption call regularly pays for her court reporter or
uh who's sitting over here and so we appreciate caption call a lot of people
in this room know me because I installed their caption called phone years ago I
haven't worked for them for four years so I I'm not in play now caption call it
actually captions everything the caller is saying requirements you want to have
the internet you have to have a landline phone and your hearing loss has to be
certified by a hearing healthcare provider or it could be a medical
provider and I have those forms here if you're interested there is absolutely no
charge for this phone and the service is paid for through a program with the
federal government or the ABA so we have professionals in the room if
you're interested in getting this phone the first step is to get this form
signed on your behalf and also I have a little application form and if you do it
on your own just tell them the hearing world club sent you so that they will
keep paying the bills here nice okay do we have any other
professional advisors I'd be a professional hearing aid dispensers no
nobody else here okay we usually get one
how many people are here for the very first time okay good good hearing loss
is leading public issues by age 80 70 75 to 80 percent have some level of hearing
loss the National Institutes for health actually says that aged 75 and older 50
percent have hearing loss so that means 50 percent Laguna Woods residence has
some level of hearing loss yeah that's not surprising okay
so hearing loss is the daily challenge but it can be overcome and that's what
we try to do here so you don't have to face your hearing loss alone it's a lot
of people say what's your hearing loss what do I do
tell me two meetings here you can talk to other people about their experience
you can talk to me and kind of guide you in the right direction and you'll be
well taken care of educated consumers here better so that's what's to learn
okay I want to thank my volunteers Susan Marilyn all treasurer Elaine secretary
all-around Daniel Lisa and Natalie Thank You volunteers okay we meet on my second
Tuesday of every month so mark your calendar in advance I actually Paul has
at the reception desk our treasurer Paul has some little stickers
that if it would help you you can put these on your calendar put it on the
second Tuesday get the month so that you will be reminded in advance and you
won't accidentally schedule another appointment so because I've had a lot of
people say oh I didn't know I was a little boy mess I didn't make it okay
membership is $15 per household and membership is January through December
when you join you don't get a membership card you get a name tag and so some of
you were wearing name tags I already printed up that's because you remember
also there's been a lot of talk about room rates clubs and room rates and I
believe the room rate is going up 18 percent so I haven't got the one word
you up from the recreation office we have a big donation can up there I
really I don't ask for donations very often I'm done I'm going to be a little
bit more nagging about that but I really do need your support both a membership
and donations to help keep everything going
including the increased room runs October schedule of events for the
hearing world club we actually are very very busy this month in addition to this
meeting on October the 16th we have a high phone training class it's already
full it's already full we have some people that signed up for that and they
are now on the November class so November class is November the 20th and
it looks like I have seven openings so I have this sheet if you would like some
basic training for your iPhone this this is a program is provided by the
California telephone access and it's for seniors with hearing loss so and the
goal the outcome at the end is you can hear better on your phone they
are not teaching Android at this time but they hope to be able to do that in
the new year but for right now if you have an iPhone
and you could benefit from a little training on your iPhone there's six
people in a class and you'll have two or three trainers per class so it's very
hands-on very one-on-one and if you'd like to sign up I'm going to start
passing this around okay please make sure that it gets to the
reception desk at the end oh boy more number words probably about the fighters
okay
that's October October the 22nd oh wait a minute
yeah that's these that signup is for November November the 20th yeah okay I
interrupted myself October the 22nd hearing whoa Club is going to be at the
senior village games come by and see me 11:32 to clubhouse too so if you're
gonna be at the village games we'll have a little table there and some little
giveaways or something so stop by and see me October the 28th this is in
recognition of audiology Awareness Month we have a special meeting and Mendell
Noel will be presenting on the newest technology of hearing aids and how to
maximize the use of aids you have now and you have to sign up there's only 30
seats that's all the whole the room holds 30 seats so I'm going to pass have
another sign-up sheet
there's three people already on this list so if you want to come this is
going to be in the pine room in the community center on the 25th two o'clock
so I have one for this side of the room and I don't have a pen okay okay we're
winding down now the next meeting is November the 14th and that's the second
Tuesday of the month and it's a 2 o'clock time I'm gonna introduce Paul
now and get his presentation ready so Paul Sanchez is here today from the
Department of Consumer Affairs in particular he he raised over the long
words speech pathologist audiologist and hearing aid dispensers board and I heard
somebody called that the slap-happy board sometimes it's that way ok so that
was the hearing aid dispensers that were was that their convention they were
calling it the slap-happy board okay so Paul is here he's going to be talking to
you I'm sure you read the advertisements that we put out about licensing of
professional education continuing education he has some things to tell you
that I'm not even aware of so I'm just gonna let him get started
publish you come on up here and I go to the computer and get your thing
going once I get it going okay
the devices that you're using are only good in this room it's working because
it works with the copper wire that's on the floor here thank you Tony
hey good afternoon everyone my name is Paul Sanchez
let me see if I as I get situated here I see that you're all getting Amber Alerts
and one of the reasons that we're here we're here to see oh sorry
one of the reasons we're here is to see all of you talk about what we do but we
were also here to actually visit one of my sons who is playing soccer in
Southern California when he got back to Santa Rosa went to bed thought it was
going to be a normal evening and get ready for his every day weekend routine
and calls us we're at the air hotel to tell us there's these horrible fires in
Santa Rosa so you know Phil for all these people all over Northern
California Southern California that have just lost so much so much devastation so
our hearts go out to those people right now let me Tony is very technological
probably but more so than I am because she figured this out right away
so let me go ahead and get started to talk about why I'm why I'm here back in
1992 during the vice presidential debates Admiral Stockdale asked a
question he said Who am I and why am I here and I always think
about that whenever I get up in front of people who am I and why am I here the
interesting thing is while they were asking him questions people thought he
was aloof because he couldn't hear the questions and if you recall one of the
reasons he couldn't hear the questions was because his hearing aid wasn't on
and he said I'm sorry can you repeat my hearing aid isn't on so a couple of
reasons that I'm here is to talk about hearing aids now I never thought growing
up I thought I dreamed of being a lot of things I talked to you Daniel Boone
earlier and I watched a lot of television so you said fantasize about
being The Lone Ranger an astronaut a baseball player I never thought I would
be running a licensing board and overseen the profession of
speech-language pathology audiology and hearing aid dispensing but as I became
more and more involved in consumer protection issues I began to realize how
incredibly important it is what I do for a living I'm married to a this lovely
woman here Lisa Sanchez my wife actually her job is
really interesting as we're driving through here she sees a lot of the
hospitals and skilled nursing facilities Lisa's job was to inspect and enforce
the those facilities were safe and up to code for their residents so somehow we
both ended up in the consumer protection business and that's what I do so
we're responsible for regulating hearing a dispensing audiology speech-language
pathology I'm going to go through some statistics just to kind of give you a
background but I don't want to bore you with a lot of information so be sure not
to do that our board is made up of professional licensees and public
members we meet four times a year and we exist for consumers that's why we exist
we're not just a government agency taking people's tax dollars we actually
get our money from licensee registrations the licensees that are
here they send us a fee we put that money to work
and we run a very tight ship we have 20 Berrien who I appreciate everything she
does she's very involved in consumer protection issues from another side and
we've seen this very kind woman come to our board meetings and remind us you are
you are about hearing and you don't even have a hearing loop so that people that
that have problems here can hear what you're talking about so we've got a ways
to go but we're very grateful for the input that we've gotten from from Tony
some of the issues that she's raised to the board and our board members are very
interested in pursuing those issues our board oversees you'll see later about
27,000 licensees in California we license 27,000 people yet we only have
ten employees that work in the board office so we have a big job ahead of us
and and we were very busy we work with law enforcement agencies we have sworn
peace officers we have the Attorney General's we have district attorneys in
different counties that we also work with what does the licensing board do
well obviously it licenses and you know I hear a lot of sometimes there's some
negative sentiment about regulations and licenses we have too many regulations we
have too many licenses well one of the things we do is we keep people safe we
want to make sure that people are protected that people are able to live a
life happy avoiding problems for for seniors two of the greatest expenses
you're going to have is probably buying an automobile and purchasing a hearing
aid so it's really important that we make sure that that's done properly so
we promote standards through the legislative process the regulations we
make sure that the laws are there to protect people and we also have
enforcement someone when licensees or people that are not practicing by the
law are abiding by the law we enforce the law
and I'll give you an example of something that we have done recently
there was a large hearing aid retailer in Northern California some use some
bait and switch tactics advertising a $600 hearing aid
come on aided by the $600 hearing aid when people would come in to buy a $600
hearing aid they wouldn't be told they were told that's not the right hearing
aid from for you so a none we had a nun that was one of one of the victims of
this case walked into one of these places you know she was not able to
spend her own money she had to take an invoice back to the diocese and while
she was there she was pressured into buying a more expensive hearing aid she
said in her Irish accent no no I can't even do it like she did it but she said
I I've only been authorized to spend
$1,200 she was told she was gonna spend $1,200 to bring the invoice back to the
diocese she was pressured into a credit transaction where she had to sign on for
credit she ended up spending 10 times that amount of money for hearing aids
that didn't work for her now that was a very unfortunate thing for us she was so
distraught that she stayed at a motel right outside that she was afraid to go
back to the diocese that those are the kinds of cases that we investigate I
will say this out of the 27,000 people that we that we licensed
most of our licensees are very good dedicated committed people but there are
those few that we have to watch a little more closely and sometimes take action
against in this particular case the the company had to give restitution to all
of the people that made refund claims because there are some laws that protect
you when you're buying the hearing aids some unique and special laws that were
written and just for hearing aids and I'll I'll cover that a little more as we
go along why do we need a licensing board we have licensing boards for for
contractors we have licensing boards for free dentistry you probably all have
heard of the Medical Board we have licensing boards for for many
many things and the reason we need a licensing board
is because the legislation state of California decided that certain
professions affect the the overall public health and safety of California
citizens and these professions need to be subject to regulation and control one
of the big ones is a contractors state licensing board if those contractors are
not regulated then then maybe the contractors aren't doing things to code
and do anything safely so these things these same laws apply to hearing aid
dispensers audiologists and speech-language pathologists so that's
why we exist that's why we have to license people i I would never want to
be in a country where there were no regulations or there were no licenses
and people who are victims of unscrupulous actors in these cases so
I'm very glad that we had these laws in California now when the board was
established the board was established with a main priority and that priority
wasn't to collect money from people the priority wasn't to to do anything above
consumer protection so that's what that's what we stand for everything that
we do we think about it from a consumer protection standpoint if we don't agree
with something as a board as an organization we go back to that why are
we here who are we why are we here we're here to protect consumers license your
authorizes an individual to practice their profession it's governed by state
laws and regulations licensees are required to maintain a minimum standard
of practice and it's a privilege that must be earned or maintained I talked to
licensees all the time and they don't understand why are you coming down so
hard on this why are you why are you doing this to us you know I paid my dues
maybe they they get arrested and they commit a crime and I tell them as a
licensee you are held to a higher standard than average Joe or average
Jane citizen you have to maintain a higher standard to keep your license so
that's why we have these laws now it's really important whenever you go to a to
buy hearing aids or or wherever you go that you know exactly who you're talking
to when you walk into a hearing aid dispensing retail location know who it
is sometimes the person helping you are they hearing are they a licensed hearing
aid dispenser are they an audiologist are they a trainee because you have a
right to know who's who's holding that transaction with you who's helping you
and what their qualifications are one thing that we can do one of the one of
the great things that the Department of Consumer Affairs has is something called
license verification and many of you may have already used that you may know
about this but any time you're dealing with a licensee you can look them up on
our on our website and you can find out if they have actions disciplinary
actions have been take it against them and that's something that Senator Hill
brought up in in these and these reviews of boards when the legislature reviews
the board every four years he wants to know do consumers know if they go see a
doctor that this doctor has had disciplinary action against them do
consumers know when they go to to purchase a hearing aid that perhaps this
hearing aid dispensers had actually take against him so that's something that you
can do and one of the booklets that we've left you here there is information
on how to look for license verification this is just something you can look at
our own this just shows you how many licensees are in state of California and
just to confuse you more we threw out more numbers in a box and these are this
is interesting data for you to know the number of licensees we have in
California and the number of complaints that we get as you can see out of
almost 28,000 people who get it we get about 200 complaints not all of those
complaints are valid complaint sometimes they're just people that are angry about
the way they were treated we're here only to actually actually enforce the
laws that exist so it has to be a violation of the law we step in what the
attorney asked me to talk about is the the education that the requirements for
licensure so two types of people can dispense hearings in California now that
may change somewhat but there are still laws that say that to fit to create an
ear mold oppression and to to sell a hearing aid you must be licensed in the
state of California we have some we have some of the most strict licensing laws
in the country when it comes to that so two types of people an audiologist as
license to dispense we call them dispensing audiologists or a hearing aid
dispenser other there's other types of temporary licenses but they must work
under the supervision of an audiologist or a hearing aid dispenser now in order
to become in order to to become an audiologist you must have a doctor a
doctorate degree so audiologists go through extensive training they earned
their their doctorate of audiology degree they have in addition to that 12
months of supervised experience before they become licensed and a minimum of
375 hours of clinical experience now they actually get a lot more than that
that's just a minimum that's required by law then they have to go and take a
national examination they come to us and they said now I want to be now I want to
be able to sell hearing aids what do I need to do well we make them take a
written exam and after they pass the written exam then they all come to
Sacramento and we given my hands-on practical examination
that's what a dispensing Audiology has to do before a dispensary audiologist
has to do before they sell hearing aids a hearing aid dispenser is a little bit
different hearing aid dispensers are licensed to fit and sell hearing aids
their educational requirement is they must have a high school diploma
the lawdness have required them to have any particular type of experience but
many of them do work as trainees as apprentices I know at Costco they have a
program where they actually train them that's not necessarily the state's
requirement that's just something I think that they do I know I'm talking to
them but before they become licensed they
have to take that same written examination and a practical examination
so this is why I say it's important to see who you're talking to
do your homework look at their reviews find out what kind of service they give
to people and most importantly check their license on the Department of
Consumer Affairs website find out for yourself has there been any action taken
if you don't get your answers on there give us a call send us an email and we
can help answer your questions in those areas are there any questions so far
regarding the educational requirements or indeed you are license verification
yes I think this is a very important part of what we do so I want to make
sure everyone understands we're going to be able to buy hearing aids over the
counter would that be people I'm sure like hearing aid dispensers or would it
be an audiologist okay so that's a very good question I'm going to talk a little
bit about the changing landscape of hearing aids and I'll talk a little bit
about what I know towards the end of the the presentation was very good question
and the other questions yes original form of Great Britain and by the lineage
of the clashes maker agent off the wall um the same question about
over-the-counter over-the-counter hearing aids tipped off the alcohol like
99 changed or glasses we just go to 99-cent store and get your amplification
hearing eight or nine dollars I'll talk about the changing laws again the law
that was passed by I think it was senators Warren and Grassley we'll get
to that any other questions about license requirements or license
verification okay go on to the so in addition to getting
licensed a hearing aid dispenser or a dispensing audiologists must continue
their education now this goes for all licensees my wife is a registered nurse
so every two years she has to continue her education and if any of you hold a
professional license you know this you have to go back and you have to continue
education and make sure that you meet these requirements in dispensing
audiologists yes but because there's more information that I want to include
on I want to talk about the whole topic okay I will
over the county hearing aids have have come they're happening but there's
there's a lot more to talk about there so the dispensing audiologists must have
twelve hours of continuing education every year that means that every year
that to make sure before they renew their license I think they've had 12
hours of continuing education an audiologist has have that doesn't
dispense has have twenty-four every two years and hearing aid dispenser is same
thing twelve hours a year so in addition to getting their license every
have to have a minimum of 12 hours a year I know many of them do more than
that every year to maintain their license now let's talk a little bit
about advertising because I want to just kind of stick with the topic of
enforcement and consumer protection before we into the changing landscape of
hearing aids advertising is I did answer the question that the line had changed I
answered the question a lot of change I didn't answer the question I'm going to
talk more about it that is a really interesting question and he is going to
cover it he wants to get through this part of the presentation
so I think right now it'd be a good idea and please hold all your questions until
he's done okay thank you okay so we go to when we start talking about
advertising this is a big this is a major issue with with a lot of areas of
retail not just hearing aids but it is a major issue when it comes to hearing
aids because there's a lot of misleading advertising some fraudulent advertising
and that's something that is a real challenge for our board we again as I
mentioned we have ten people and you have newspapers major newspapers all
over California people still actually buy newspapers people go online to read
these advertisements and these advertisements sometimes sell something
or they purport to sell something that is different from what they're actually
trying to sell you so you know today I say buyer beware the business and
Professions Code 651 forbids the dissemination of public communication
containing false fraudulent misleading deceptive claims now I just put this as
a foundation so that you I know that all of you probably have a pretty good
any of this we've all lived through the the going-out-of-business furniture sale
advertisers who live through the the advertising used cars and then doing a
bait-and-switch technique so these are some of the same kinds of activities
that happen a false and misleading deceptive statement is a
misrepresentation of fact that's likely to deceive so when we say we have a
hearing aid that is going to it's a world smallest and most potent hearing
aid unless you can somehow quantify that then that's a misleading advertisement
so there are a lot of a lot of examples on how that happens it an advertisement
that makes the claim of professional superiority without objective and
scientific evidence that's what I was just talking about now I don't know if
any of you ever saw this movie it's a movie about this elf that is walking
through New York and he walks you there he sees he's from obviously the North
Pole in this story he's never been through these the city streets and he
sees this sign that says the world's best cup of coffee so he comes into this
coffee place and he's just ecstatic he says you did it congratulations
you created the world's best cup of coffee great job everybody it's great to
be here and the people in the coffee shops are looking at you totally not
understanding where he's coming from but these are the kinds of claims that are
sometimes made there's misleading testimonials we actually had a case
where sometimes you have a great personality a radio personality or news
personality and they're advertising about how great a hearing aid has worked
for them when maybe they don't use hearing aids or they're not telling you
I'm actually getting paid to do this the law says that they have to actually tell
you that they're a paid spokesperson they can't compensate them without
telling you that so I included some bulleted information near materials so
you can understand that so beware of these these advertisements that are
out there in addition to the advertising laws that protect you we also have
something called the song Beverly consumer warranty act how many of you
ever ever heard of the California lemon law that's that's something that's
somewhat unique to us now another booklet that we've included
is a booklet called lemonade and it talks about the lemon law and how it
applies to purchasing automobiles this is a special law that's in the
California Civil Code that has to do with with appliances with it has to do
with cars and what it is is it makes sure that there that there's an implied
warranty in these laws well the legislature thought that hearing aids
were so important that they actually included a law that just applies to
hearing aids in this consumer warranty law and what it says is all new and use
hearing aids sold in the state will be accompanied by a retailers sellers
written warranty it even tells them the size font that that warranty needs
meaning it needs to be in at least a size 10 font and the reason they did
that was because I don't know if you remember the the Willy Wonka contract as
he's reading the contract the letters getting smaller and smaller and he says
I can't even read this it's too small and he says that's a point sign here
sometimes those things happen to business so the legislature wanted to
make sure that it's at least in a 10-point font so you can see that with
your reading glasses and when it says is if this hearing device is not initially
fit for the buyers particular needs it may be returned to the seller within 45
days of the initial date of the buyer if you returned the hearing aid the seller
can adjust the hearing aid without a charge and in a reasonable amount of
time they can replace a hearing aid or they could just promptly refund you the
whole amount paid when a sale is rescinded under the
sexual law no charge or penalty or other fee may be imposed in connection with a
purchase fitting financing or return of the device this is another area that
we've actually had to enforce we have cases where a hearing aid dispenser
decides you know you need to if you're gonna buy this hearing aid we're gonna
take you on a patient journey so you're gonna sign up for this great plan and it
it lasts a certain amount of time for weeks 60 days whatever that is and it's
beyond the warranty period so by the time you decide this doesn't work for me
you're outside of that warranty period and they're no longer legally obligated
to refund you your money so be aware that you you know there's specific laws
that cover you when it comes to hearing aid warranty now if you oh yes yes so
the state law is 45 days right that's correct but there are some places that
say you have 60 days 90 days six month warranty if they put that in writing is
that good yes they can they can they can extend the warranty as long as they want
but they're just by law they're only legally required to refund your money
within those 45 days thank you and and I'll tell you from talking to hearing
aid dispensers most of them that the reputable ones that I know would say why
wouldn't I want to work with my with my clients or my customers so most of them
do that oh I'm sorry so so most of them are reputable and
we'll then we'll provide good service any other questions on that before we go
down so if you feel that there has been a violation of the law in any of these
areas I want you to know there's a way filed a complaint and we have this is
our website that's called speech and hearing see a govt and the first thing
we have on our website right up at the top under quick hits is filing a
complaint against the licensee it's not because we're against licensees and
because we think they're all bad it's because that priority that we have that
we've been mandated is consumer protection that's why we're here so we
want to make sure that if someone has been wronged has been legally wrong that
they have a way to come and file a complaint with the board this this kind
of guides you and takes you through the pages of what to do when you do file a
complaint there are several ways to to file a complaint form we have an English
version a Spanish version a way to go online so you don't have to print a
piece of paper and send it to us or we have a specific hearing aids complaint
form and the reason we have a specific hearing aid complaint form is because
there's specific information that we're trying to get when you file a a claim a
complaint against a hearing aid dispenser now these are the kinds of
violations that we will investigate sexual misconduct conviction of a
criminal offense any practice outside of the scope of speech-language pathology
audiology or hearing a dispensing anything below their standards
deceptive or misleading advertising unlicensed practice the violations I
mentioned include violations of the warranty act these are the things that
we do not investigate we don't investigate fee or billing disputes now
the only time we really get into the the billing is when someone violates the
actual warranty Protection Act so if you say I request a refund they will not
refund me money it's you know I'm I've tried to
work with them then at that point we will step in we don't investigate
personality conflicts you know the receptionist was really
rude this this person just is not very nice anything outside of our legal
jurisdiction we don't investigate just real quick if you have has anyone here
ever filed a complaint with the board against the licensee if you do we open
the complaint this is just kind of the process it's a lot of information but
you can read this on your own basically we open the complaint we review it to
see if it's within our jurisdiction if it is that complaint can go many
directions sometimes it's a simple you know there's no violation here this is
outside of our jurisdiction sometimes it's a it's a dispute that we
can have helped facilitate we call the dispenser they give these people their
money back what's going on here and sometimes I that has happened sometimes
it's more complicating that and we need to actually involve an investigator or a
subject matter expert we go to our licensees sometimes who act as subject
matter experts and we'll look at the records and say is there a violation
here I have a question that gets
do you can a patient file a complaint against a hearing aid dispenser who has
signed themselves up as an audiologist I'm yellow number one that they put down
that they're an audiologist but they're only a hearing aid dispenser and then
the second question the current advertising a luminol dispenser is
saying that he is a hearing aid engineer changing the title is that no how do you
work with that well the first one is is very simple and that is yes if they're
if they're claiming to be an audiologist and they're not that's something that we
would investigate this is the second area I think we'd have to look into that
a little a little more but you can't mislead people into thinking you're
something that you're not or if it's a protected class or licensed I can't say
I'm a doctor if I'm not a doctor I can't make you think I'm a doctor if I'm not a
doctor so the those are the different routes we've actually been very
successful in prosecuting these cases one case in Northern California involved
five counties we we were able to get restitution that's the most important
thing people got their money back going all the way back to 2011 there's going
to be a press release out of that that's going to be coming out shortly it is
public information but people going all the way back to 2011 are gonna be able
to go back and get their money back from these people that basically rip them off
now there are some changes that are happening in hearing aids and the reason
for this is because there's a problem as as Tony mentioned here alone we can
assume that 50% of the people in this community have our hard-of-hearing so
what you said so so this is a great need in our country and hearing aids have not
always been affordable it's it's a tremendous expense and some
people are covered some people are not covered my wife will work for medi-cal
she always kind of tells me explains the loss to me I don't always quite
understand it completely but but it's a big problem and I think this was a
bipartisan bill by Senator Warren and Senator Grassley that was signed by the
president in August as part of the FDA reauthorization Act and what this does
is this this directs the FDA to create regulations to create a new category of
hearing aids that would be over-the-counter now the law is
directing the FDA to create regulations so that has not happened yet but there
will be over-the-counter hearing aids and those over-the-counter hearing aids
are going to be for people that have self-perceived mild to moderate hearing
loss there is still going to be a need for for health professionals for people
to go to a a licensed hearing aid dispenser or an audiologist that can do
a test and a professional feeding but this the feeling is that this would
still help a lot of people get some really get some improvement in their
hearing now we don't know how this is going to affect California we don't know
how they can affect a lot of states because the regulations themselves have
not been written I've been in communication with different agencies
and Washington DC trying to find out how is this going to affect us what we're
going to do one thing I do know is that we we have laws in place right now that
say you have to regulate this this profession and we're going to continue
doing that until we know otherwise we know that there are going to always be
license hearing aid dispensers and licenses on
colleges that dispense hearing aids the other thing that's in the law that's
important is that it's called the effective state law that no state or
local government can restrict or interfere with the over-the-counter I
act the part of that law so we can't write a new law that says you can't sell
over-the-counter hearing aids in California because this federal law
supersedes the federal law trumps state law no pun intended there the effect on
private remedies is that nothing in law shall affect the individual's right to
legal action under any state or federal product liability tort warranty contract
or consumer protection law what does that mean that means that a private
citizen has a right to take legal action even after this odd legal action
enforcing their warranty contract or consumer protection rights so the
question we have is will this affect our California consumer warranty Protection
Act and that's something that we don't know yet I think that you'll probably
find out because Tony is involved in some of the things that we need so
she'll probably know and she'll probably pass that on to you we invite you to
connect with our board we we webcast our meetings we're gonna do a better job of
getting making sure that those meetings are available to people that need closed
caption or other other requirements and we meet in October at Dominguez Hills we
usually have a couple of meetings in Northern California and at least one or
two weeks in Southern California every year we have a web address that's
included in your materials we have an email address feel free to send us an
email and you can call us we're working on getting more staff to answer those
phones a little bit faster so please be patient with us and bear with us Sarah
now are there any questions thank you any questions
one thing I can say is that it's kind of difficult to wade through all other
rules and regulations but if you find advertising that you think is a little
suspicious I'll bring it here to the beatings let's
take a look at it and I can always run it by Paul by the way I think I don't
why did mention it I first caught a glimpse of Paul when I was on Capitol
Hill when I was speaking before the assembly Committee in favor of a new
regulation to regulate to require t-coil instruction so that when you buy a
hearing aid the plan was we buy a hearing aid the audiologist and her name
dispenser would have to tell you about it that's all not that you have to have
one but that you would be informed about it and it to use well that's when I
first saw Paul I didn't actually talk to you that day I was scared to death and
one of the board members scared me to death
and that's okay I'm not afraid anymore and I have seen him subsequently because
I do try to go to the board meetings and I will be at the board meeting in Carson
on the 26th and 27th and I requested accommodations so there will be
captioned for me at that meeting and so I'm really looking forward to that I
will bring back new information whatever that is you know that board meeting so I
thank you and a couple of board meetings and that you have a audiology meeting I
think I may have met you and a hearing aid dispensers meeting so anyway so our
paths have crossed a few times which made it possible for me to invite you
come and talk to you so so anyway so anything that is questionable in your
mind and if you don't want to go right to them and talk to them and you can
certainly talk to me and we can write it out and get a message to Paul Sanchez so
your questions about over-the-counter hearing aids how's that been satisfied
for right now everything that was saying answer the question answer the question
because really there's it's up to the federal government to write the
regulations before we really know what else is going to happen I get him on
eBay particular the piece I guess six of them they come and they're good for
tonight they're good for independent they're good for no more than an
increase on helping you ten decibels and they're called hearing amplification
they're not hearing me that they they sing this go to your doctor for Hindi
but this is this will help you ten percent or ten decibel at least about
peace ups personal sound amplification products that's what's called a peace
out they're not allowed to call the hearing aid but eventually hearing aids
that are manufactured that comply with the federal the new federal law will be
able to be called hearing aids Tony can I say something about going over the
counter here against my hearing loss can I add something that Tony
okay sure you know you're really fortunate to have an audiology advisor
here too and I think one thing to really find out is what best meets your needs
because obviously getting something out of a catalog or online may not be for
everyone so I think it's really important to consult with the
even its economical if it isn't sometimes it's just like flushing it
down the toilet it doesn't work sometimes you think you know what you
pay for yeah well I've been following the nab
that comes in the paper every week it's called an empty hearing aid and it has a
picture of it quote doctor whether he is or isn't he
doesn't mention the price he doesn't mention whatever has any bottom or any
other controls and I'm wondering if that you guys are so smart that too if you
might know is that worth trying because there's money-back guarantee or not
I've just been every week I see this in our paper that comes in a full-page ad I
will tell you my experience from looking at numerous ads is if it's too good to
be true it's probably too good to be true I mean I hate to sound so skeptical
but there are a lot of good reasonable options out there for hearing aids and I
would just be aware of those those no risk money-back guarantee type deals
just be careful and the hearing aid sounds like a mail-order place
he calls himself a doctor and there's a website you have to order the website or
do you make an appointment to see him go to the website maybe find out more or
call on the phone
my hearing losses is really the severe and the profound so that definitely
wouldn't work for me yes is there any time I've been told different things
I've been told that the FDA is that it's going to take up to three years to get
the regulations in place but I've also been told twelve months so I would
probably guesstimate it somewhere in between there by the way that's starting
with the previous administration so I don't know what there's a lot of
administrative changes that are happening so I don't know how that
affects these regulations okay here it is for me have been very expensive said
though either missing or losing and I just wondered you think you know the
prices will ever come down but because I know these new ones these
over-the-counter that's something to work for me because I have severe
hearing loss so I'm wondering is there something in between
I mean we're seniors I'll let me I know the expert has them to say but can I
just I know one thing though that I've heard it's likely to happen is you have
a handful of companies manufacturers have dominated the market and there's a
sense that with the over-the-counter hearing aids with more companies getting
involved that that may affect the price and eventually long term bring the
prices down in three years a lot of the points have been made number one with
the over-the-counter they are working with the regulation but it is made for
mile / moderate hearing loss most of you in this room would not qualify for that
over-the-counter hearing aid because it wouldn't meet your needs and
over-the-counter hearing aid means just that over-the-counter you go into
Walgreens or wherever and you buy it and you put it in your ear and that's it
nobody's gonna adjust it for you nobody's going to take your audiogram it
is a beginner type of hearing aid so some of that amplification systems that
you're talking about they have not legally been able to call it a hearing
aid even though it does amplify the sound it's now allowing them to call it
a hearing aid the other thing is the reason hearing aids are so expensive we
know is research and development but it's because our insurance companies
don't pay for eyes ears and teeth Medicare was set up to be a major
medical insurance it was not originally set up to be everyone's everyday health
insurance it has transpired into that but that was not the original cause or
reason for Medicare so that's why it's so expensive because it is an
out-of-pocket expense what we need to do is we need to write
our senators and congressmen and tell them that if they would be proactive in
helping with hearing loss we could have I think paula was said at the CI a
meeting 13 point 1 billion dollar savings in senior health care because
there would be less Falls less
attention better cognitive skills hearing loss affects all of those things
and with seniors being so affected we need to be proactive in trying to get
that covered no one says oh my hip replacement was
way too expensive my shoulder oh my goodness no because your insurance pays
for it it's because you're feeling the pain of an out-of-pocket expense I can
appreciate where you're coming from but it is not that the hearing aids when you
when you entail the training and the therapy and everything else that you've
given a hearing aid how they're properly fit that's not this year the issue is
that we need to go back and try to get hearing aids covered we have had hearing
aids now cochlear implants are covered five years ago cochlear implants were
not covered by Medicare now that medicare covers them other
insurance companies are covering them and because of that now it's just a
degree of hearing loss right now it's severe so now they need to start
bringing the standard down to cover moderate and severe and they would save
a lot in other health care areas sorry we've got get off my soapbox
she wanted to know how much a hearing aid cost well you can go anywhere from
39.95 on the internet all the way up to three thousand four thousand dollars a
piece right they'll vary and that's where education comes into play and as
Paul was saying you have to know what you're getting for your dollar right
what is that technology doing how does that person fit what kind of therapy are
you getting there's a whole way that a hearing aid needs to be fixed and I like
to equate it as being a physical therapist if you got a knee replacement
would you think that you could just walk out the door on your own with no a judge
no therapy no physical therapy afterwards your body knows how to walk
why do you need a physical therapist if you just had a knee or a hip replacement
the reason you do is because the therapist knows your body and they know
how to push you to the point of accepting the new device and then
getting used to it and teaching your body how to use that device properly
that is the purpose of an audiologist or a hearing aid dispenser after you have
gotten fit is to retrain your brain on how to hear how to accept sound how to
apply it and how to use it to the best of your advantage for what you have left
a hearing aid does not give you normal hearing a hearing aid is an a
it's not a cure-all but it is a fantastic device when it's placed in
your ear properly and fit properly and that's where it is hearing these are
getting smarter because they can detect the difference between background noise
and speech but it's still up to the brain to do the work your brains are
doing all the work the hearing aid is only giving your brain the cleanest
clearest signal to process so when you talk about the cost of a hearing aid
you're talking about how is that device separating the words from your
background noise to give me a clean signal you could buy a radio at Radio
Shack now all denied own business anymore are
they you could buy a radio online for $4.95 or you can pay $15,000 for a
beautiful stereo system they both are giving sound but the sound
fidelity and clarity has to be appreciated and that's basically what
you're paying for in the variety of hearings so does the Medicare help no
not yet okay so what can we do right to our senators because I think Medicare's
s event writers v the Medicare is our federal government right now Medicare in
theory excuse me right now Medicare will not pay for a hearing test that will
done right now Medicare will not pay for a hearing test if it's for the purpose
of fitting a hearing aid or if there's not a medical issue behind it meaning an
ear infection well how do you know if you don't get tested right we don't so
we need to push that guideline and we need to contact our congressman
and our senators and tell them we need help with this and we can change but we
need to hear the voices as pulses from you know when you make a complaint then
things get changed cochlear implants worked on the the
scope five years ago and now they're paid so we can do it okay thank you
thank you you go girl and Paul you want to tell people about what you brought
them yes please there are some there there are some booklets in the back that
we were able to bring from the Department of Consumer Affairs from some
of the other agencies with the board there are a lot of consumer protection
boards out there that are there to help you so want to be a service to you
please take a look at these thank you
nice to give you a little gift and we want to take a picture it's a little
gift
somebody must have told you it's a gift card from Starbucks Starbucks you
borrowed this big device please turn it into the door monitor we also have if
you've learned anything today we have a donation jar please please give to the
best of your ability any amount counts our next meeting is in November and I
will send you an email if you've given me your email address if you live
through the woods and don't have an email address I'll send you a postcard
but I I need to have that information thank you very much
while I learned a lot
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