{"title":"Understanding Hearing Health Care Choices and Customer Archetypes in an Era of Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids.","authors":"Jasleen Singh, Sumitrajit Dhar","doi":"10.1044/2026_AJA-26-00032","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of the study was to identify factors influencing consumer choice toward hearing health care (HHC) delivery pathway (provider-driven vs. over-the-counter [OTC] hearing aids) and to characterize customer archetypes. A secondary purpose was to evaluate shifts in consumer choices and archetypes in light of the recent availability of OTC hearing aids.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A 27-item survey, adapted from prior work, was administered via Qualtrics Research Panels to over 1,000 U.S. residents aged 50 years and older with no prior hearing aid experience. Multiple linear regressions identified predictive factors for delivery pathway. Principal components analysis and <i>k</i>-means clustering were utilized to develop customer archetypes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Completed surveys obtained from 1,013 respondents showed that while 39% of respondents reported being comfortable with purchasing an OTC hearing aid, 84% preferred a provider-driven model. Insurance coverage and stage of HHC journey were predictive of pathway choice. Three customer archetypes emerged: Empowered Evaluator, Passive Traditionalist, and Disengaged Skeptic. Customer archetypes varied on stage of the HHC journey and comfort managing online transactions. Passive Traditionalists were more likely to pursue provider-driven models of HHC compared to Empowered Evaluators.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Respondents report a strong preference for provider-driven care despite growing comfort with OTC hearing aid options. Insurance coverage, care journey stage, and customer archetypes may influence HHC decisions.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33071336.</p>","PeriodicalId":49241,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Audiology","volume":" ","pages":"1102-1112"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Audiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2026_AJA-26-00032","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/7/31 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify factors influencing consumer choice toward hearing health care (HHC) delivery pathway (provider-driven vs. over-the-counter [OTC] hearing aids) and to characterize customer archetypes. A secondary purpose was to evaluate shifts in consumer choices and archetypes in light of the recent availability of OTC hearing aids.
Method: A 27-item survey, adapted from prior work, was administered via Qualtrics Research Panels to over 1,000 U.S. residents aged 50 years and older with no prior hearing aid experience. Multiple linear regressions identified predictive factors for delivery pathway. Principal components analysis and k-means clustering were utilized to develop customer archetypes.
Results: Completed surveys obtained from 1,013 respondents showed that while 39% of respondents reported being comfortable with purchasing an OTC hearing aid, 84% preferred a provider-driven model. Insurance coverage and stage of HHC journey were predictive of pathway choice. Three customer archetypes emerged: Empowered Evaluator, Passive Traditionalist, and Disengaged Skeptic. Customer archetypes varied on stage of the HHC journey and comfort managing online transactions. Passive Traditionalists were more likely to pursue provider-driven models of HHC compared to Empowered Evaluators.
Conclusions: Respondents report a strong preference for provider-driven care despite growing comfort with OTC hearing aid options. Insurance coverage, care journey stage, and customer archetypes may influence HHC decisions.
期刊介绍：
Mission: AJA publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles pertaining to clinical audiology methods and issues, and serves as an outlet for discussion of related professional and educational issues and ideas. The journal is an international outlet for research on clinical research pertaining to screening, diagnosis, management and outcomes of hearing and balance disorders as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. The clinical orientation of the journal allows for the publication of reports on audiology as implemented nationally and internationally, including novel clinical procedures, approaches, and cases. AJA seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of clinical audiology, including audiologic/aural rehabilitation; balance and balance disorders; cultural and linguistic diversity; detection, diagnosis, prevention, habilitation, rehabilitation, and monitoring of hearing loss; hearing aids, cochlear implants, and hearing-assistive technology; hearing disorders; lifespan perspectives on auditory function; speech perception; and tinnitus.
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