@hearinaustin@elonmusk@EdKrassen I am starting a non-profit in my community with the first goal being traveling to perform newborn hearing tests to babies too far and poor to get their babies tested if they fail their newborn hearing screening. My small private practice invested in $35k of equipment to do this.
@hearinaustin@elonmusk@EdKrassen Also, studies show that people are more likely to get a hearing test if it’s recommended by their primary doctor (PCPs), but PCPs are unlikely to even ask patients they perceive are low-income about their hearing, let alone recommend a test.
@hearinaustin@elonmusk@EdKrassen Many people don’t believe hearing aids work (because most people have been fit and counseled poorly). Only ~25% of patients are fit using real-ear measures (which show whether the aids are actually programmed correctly)
@elonmusk@MrBeast reimbursement for Doctors of Audiology is awful in the US. Medicare pays us $36 for a hearing test that takes 20-30 minutes. Ohio Medicaid pays me AT MOST $291 to take care of a child’s hearing aids & loss for FIVE YEARS!
#hearingthecall#supportaudiologists
@elonmusk@MrBeast Males with hearing loss (more likely to work in noisy, toxic, blue-collar jobs) usually can’t afford hearing aids, make 25% less in income, are more likely to be un- or under-employed, and retire earlier.
#hearingthecall#supportgreataudiologists
@elonmusk@EdKrassen Please consider making donations to Hearing the Call (https://t.co/YXUBH5JbHp), the organization that partnered with @MrBeast to test and fit most of those 1,000 patients.
They also have many local projects helping small communities in the US - all of these projects need funds!