- Happy New Year and welcome to 2024!
2023 was a fantastic year
and better than I even expected, so let's go ahead
and take a look at all the great things
that happened in 2023
and all of the things that I'm looking forward
to in 2024 coming up.
If you watch my New Year's video last year, you know
that I was looking forward to five different things in 2023,
and now that it's officially 2024, let's go ahead
and take a look back and see what actually happened.
But before I do, go ahead
and click that like button if you're excited for 2024
and looking forward to making this year your best year ever.
As for 2023, I predicted
that Costco would release a new KS 11 hearing aid
to replace the KS 10 hearing aid that was pulled off
of the shelves due to reliability issues.
Unfortunately, this did not happen
because we still do not have a new KS 11 hearing
aid inside of Costco.
I suspect that the price point that Costco is looking for
for the KS 11.0 hearing aids is way too low
and no hearing aid manufacturer is willing
to cheapen its product
or cheapen its brand by taking over this Costco contract.
Since Sonova left, you can still get hearing aids at Costco,
just not at the same low price point
that you could get the private label
Kirkland Signature brand.
Of course, it is still possible
that we see a KS 11 hit the market in 2024.
I do have my fingers crossed for this,
but I'm not expecting this to happen.
We also did not see a big splash
of over-the-counter hearing aids in 2023
like we were hoping for.
The whole purpose of over-the-counter hearing aids was
to increase accessibility
and affordability for adults with perceived mild
to moderate hearing loss.
As far as we can tell, over the counter hearing aids only
accounted for approximately 1%
of overall hearing aid sales based on early data in 2023.
This wasn't necessarily a huge splash into the market,
considering that the mild to moderate hearing loss
category is by far the largest segment
of individuals out there.
I suspect that the growth
of over-the-counter hearing aid sales is being limited
by low perceived benefit
and unrealistic expectations of the individuals
who are purchasing these devices.
There's also data out there that suggests
that the return rates of these devices back
to the manufacturer for refunds is extremely high compared
to prescription hearing aid sales.
I also have the data of all the OTC hearing aids
that I've sold on my website, hearing up.com,
and over 50% of individuals
who purchase these over the counter hearing aids end up
returning them for a refund.
And the number one reason that they all give
for returning their devices is lack of perceived benefit.
If over-the-counter hearing aids are ultimately going
to be successful in treating more people with hearing loss,
they're either going to have
to improve this technology greatly
or increase the service side of this technology,
or people are gonna have to lower their expectations of
what this technology is capable of doing.
One thing that I also mentioned from last year's video is
that I was hoping that with these new over-the-Counter
Hearing Aid Act guidelines in place,
that the FDA was actually going
to crack down on bad actors inside of this
space.
And even though the FDA has done virtually nothing
to protect consumers, I have to give a huge shout out
to the Vermont Attorney General
for filing a lawsuit early in the year against Nano hearing
aids for allegedly deceiving their customers.
Hopefully more State's attorneys general will follow
Vermont's lead and file more lawsuits in 2024 against these
unscrupulous over the counter hearing aid companies.
So individuals with mild
to moderate hearing loss can start trusting
who they're buying over the counter hearing aids
from in 2024.
On a more positive note,
my website hearing up.com has seen significant growth over
the course of 2023,
and I expect this growth to continue into 2024.
Hearing up.com is where you can go if you're looking
for an excellent hearing care professional.
When I started the HearingUp
Network back in 2019,
I actually vetted all
of these different hearing healthcare providers across the
United States and Canada to make sure
that they followed comprehensive best practices.
So if you wanna make sure that you get the absolute most out
of your hearing aids in 2024, your best bet is to go
to HearingUp.com
and find a hearing up network member in your area.
I'm also excited to share
that the HearingUp Network is going
to be expanding into Australia with the help
of the Hearing Business Alliance.
This means that if you live in Australia,
you'll also be able
to find an excellent hearing healthcare
professional in your area.
Now, if you're interested in staying up to date with all
of the different projects that I have going on,
I actually started a new website called DrCliffOlson.com
that you should really check out
if you want to stay up to date.
One of those projects that I'm working on is hearing
loss.com, which was launched in early 2023,
and that's my joint venture between Dr.
Cliff and Audigy Group.
I truly hope that this website becomes one
of the leading resources for individuals with hearing loss,
tinnitus, and balance disorders here in 2024.
It also has a hearing loss.com clinic locator
where you can find HearingUp network members
who follow comprehensive Best Practices as well
as Audigy group members.
If you have a few extra minutes, go ahead
and check out hearing loss.com
and take the guided hearing experience to test your hearing.
While you're there, perhaps the most exciting news
of 2023 is the official release of hearing aids
that are now equipped with LE Audio Bluetooth and Auracast.
Now, if you are still unfamiliar with
what LE Audio Bluetooth
and Auracast are, then I highly recommend
that you check out a few of my videos
that I will link down in the description
because this is going to be the biggest thing
that we've seen in the hearing aid industry since Bluetooth
made its way into hearing aids back in 2014.
Essentially, LE Audio is going
to change the game when it comes to wireless audio streaming
because it's going to be a much higher quality,
more accessible, lower latency, lower battery drain,
and it's going to make audio shareable.
We should see this new form of LE Audio Bluetooth
with Auracast rolling out in all
of the major hearing aid brands over the course of 2024,
making 2024, 1 of the best years ever
to treat your hearing loss
or upgrade your technology. I'm also
- Incredibly excited to see the progression
of the Lenire tinnitus treatment device here in the
United States after its FDA approval in 2023.
As of right now, I have interviewed numerous people about
this particular technology that they're using
to treat tinnitus inside of their clinics.
I will have several of those videos linked in the
description as well, but I'm looking forward to seeing
how this technology continues to make an impact
for tinnitus sufferers in 2024.
Now, as far as my channel goes, we actually decided
to cancel the Dr.
Cliff Show Live version,
but we did bring it back in a prerecorded version
where I'm doing a lot more interviews
and we're just having a lot more fun discussions.
It's less rigid and we're less stressed out about having
to go live every Wednesday.
The Dr. Cliff AuD YouTube channel also hit a major
milestone at the end of 2023
by achieving 300,000 subscribers thanks to your support
and thanks to a bunch of new content
that we created over the course of the year
and new shorts content.
And if you haven't seen any of my shorts yet,
you should make sure that you subscribe to the channel
so you can see them more regularly.
I look forward to creating even more videos in 2024
and creating three new channels for individuals
who speak Spanish, German,
and Portuguese,
so we can spread this information about hearing loss
and treatment options to individuals
who do not speak English.
And no, I did not learn how to speak three new languages
for 2024.
I am using artificial intelligence to help me out with this,
but that technology is amazing.
You should really check it out.
All that being said, 2023 was a fantastic year,
but I am truly expecting 2024 to be even better.
So if you wanna stay up to date with everything
that happens in this new year, make sure that you hit
that subscribe button with notification bell
so you never miss any of my newly released videos.
With all that said, I would like
to personally wish you a happy New year
and hope that you make 2024 the best year yet.