Philippe Metzger, owner of 5 centers, in the business for thirty years!

On technology

Technology moves fast, at the speed of microprocessors. But it’s not that hard to follow! Plus if it didn’t change my job would become a bit boring after a while of applying always the same hearing aids!

Follow up

The work of an audiologist is 80% follow-up and 20% sales. People don’t pay for the follow-up, it’s included in the price of the hearing aid when they purchase it.

The audiologists who reduce margins are a danger for the profession. They make the price of the hearing aid cheaper but then there’s nothing left to cover the follow-up work. For the time being you can’t see the consequence of that but I am worried about the future. When we see companies like Afflelou moving into the business of hearing aid we get really concerned because they don’t have the same ethic as we do. They just want to make cash.

End-user marketing

It’s really annoying when people come and already know which brand they want because of advertising. The thing is, it may not be the best product for them! And then it gives us twice more work because we have to explain first why that brand isn’t appropriate for them and then sell the new product which we recommend. For us it’s really crucial that we sell them the right product. We need to sell because we have a business, but we want to do this in the right way and sell them something which will really help them.

In my waiting room I would like to have less marketing material from the brands. I would like to put my job first.

Reputation

A product’s reputation is really important. It’s a small world so if a product isn’t good everyone will know in no time.

Accessories

Patients are rather old for the most so we sell the less possible. They just get confused!

Stigma

Indeed there is stigma around losing your hearing capacities. In the old days people said he’s “sourd-dingue”! (deaf-crazy) because the hearing impaired were so disconnected with reality. People have this image in their mind that hearing aids are for old people so sometimes they wait a few years before coming in to see me.

It’s shame because the more you wait, the harder it’ll be for your cognitive system to recognize the sounds when they come back. Because you get used to not hearing some sounds and then you lose your natural response (reflexes)

Being an audiologist is like being a doctor, relationship with patients

The work of an audiologist is half commercial and half human. You have to be really-really patient with your patients and give them time to talk because they need to be heard. They feel the need to share their experience with you. It’s a bit like being a doctor, your patients are willing to spend more time in the waiting room because they know that you’ll give them the time they need when it’ll be their turn.

Repairs and people neglecting their hearing aid

There’s some repairs we can do ourselves in our little workshop, like cleaning.  But as products become more sophisticated we send them more and more often back to the maker and add a little margin for ourselves on the price. We mustn’t forget we are running a business too, it’s not just a service!

I don’t understand why people take so little care of their hearing aids. They cost a fortune and then they bring them back to us in their pockets or in envelopes, and really dirty! Maybe it’s because it’s related to the ear? I don’t understand!

My audiologist is the best: Woman & her sister appointment

He was on TV ?! When ? What programme ? Can we see it again ? (note from Lorna: I need to find the link but my web connection at the hotel is too slow!!!)

Woman: M.Metzger used to fit hearing aids onto my dad! We came in ’81 for the first time.  Oh, my dad hated it straight away. It was so loud! He took it off as soon as we left the shop!

M.Metzger: Oh, the quality wasn’t the same at the time. But he should have come back in! I could have fixed the volume! In any case maybe it was just as excuse so he could say he’d tried and it didn’t work! Like that people stopped bugging him to get a hearing aid.

Woman: We were just talking about your Christmas card, how lovely! I’ve kept it. I always keep all the cards I receive, they’re so pretty! 

Sister: I think I have some wax in my ear. Would you mind having a look? What should I do? Will it get worse?

M.Metzger: it’s fine for the time being, you’ll just have to go and see an ENT if your ear gets blocked due to the wax.

Woman: my sister keeps telling me my hearing is getting worse, but I’m sure it’s not true!

Sister: Oh it is! What do you  think M.Metzger??

M.Metzger: Oh I don’t think so but it’s true your voice isn’t very loud. It’s just like that, some voices are louder than others. Hearing doesn’t necessarily get worse by the way. You should try and be in front of her when you speak to her so she can see your lips. She needs to use her eye sight as a back up. You can see that very easily, when I ask her  to repeat the words I say with her eyes open vs closed. When her eyes are closed she gets less of what I’m saying.

Women: Oh yes that’s true! But I’m getting quite good at it! I hear 2-3 words from a sentence and then re-formulate the sentence in my mind.

Could you take a look at my eyes while I’m here? Do you think I need an operation??

How Metzger became an audiologist, from Lindy, his assistant

 M.Metzger started as an optician, then he became « contactologue” (contact lenses) and then audiologist. Sometimes people who know him still ask for him from the optician side of the business, just next door. It’s annoying because then he’s late in his appointments here but what can you do? You need to take care of your patients and keep up the good relationships.

It’ll be the businesses 30^th anniversary this year! Metzger has 5 centres now. It’s a nice little family business! His wife is part of the business too. She takes care of finance and HR. She’s much more interested by getting the money in. We don’t like having her on the audiology side because she doesn’t take enough time with people, she just wants to wrap up quickly with them and move on. We don’t like that here, you need to be patient. These people are for the most over 70!

I didn’t study audiology. I have a paper as an assistant but didn’t specialize in that field. I stopped working for 20 years to raise my kids. But my husband wears a hearing aid so I know the subject, and I know how it is to live with someone who wears a hearing aid. When I tell that to the customers they’re really relieved because they see I understand their situation. In the morning for example, you’re suppose to put on your hearing aid straight away but I know that a lot of people get dressed, have breakfast etc before they remember to put in on! There’s some people you better just not call before about 10am so you’re sure they’re wearing their hearing aid.

Metzger has three kids but none wants to continue the business. It’s a shame! But I think they suffered from their parents being at work all the time. It’s his life! He works on the weekends and he’s here in the evenings until 8.

Woman in her 40s first appointment: competitive review, reliability & convenience

Woman in her fourties coming for the first time. She already wears hearing aids but her hearing has become worse.

Siemens are the only ones who make hearing aids you can recharge instead of changing the battery.

Woman: I’m a teacher and its really annoying when I’m in the middle of a class and the battery goes!

Metzger: With this system who can charge your hearing aids every night and avoid this kind of issue. However another solution would simply be to change the battery once a week always  on the same day. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t completely used up the battery since they’re so cheap! Recharging your hearing aids every day is annoying too. You’ll have to make sure you always have your charger with you. We also noticed that these products are more fragile than the others, they need to be repaired more often.

Woman: What’s the difference between a cheap and an expensive hearing aid?

Metzger: The more expensive products have more sophisticated  algorythmes so you can adapt to more life situations. For example, if you want to hear well even in a noisy situation. This way you can fine-tune the settings on the hearing aid. We however prefer asking people for their budget and then we make do with what we can.

For you « transposition fréquentielle » would be useful as there are some frequences you just can’t hear. In the old days we used to just amplify every sound but if you can’t hear the frequence then of course there’s no point in doing that! With this technology you can go from one frequence to another. The sound will be distorted but then at least you can hear it. Some brands do it and others don’t!

Oticon don’t do « transposition fréquentielle » but have other advantages. For example, they can make your left ear work with your right ear when you’re in a noisy environment. They also have the anti-whistling system. Then they have the streamer which you can use to telephone. Itworks with your hearing aids via blutooth. But you would of course have to wear the remote around your neck.

Woman:  Oh no I don’t need these! They’re just gadgets!

Starkey: they have an excellent anti-whistling system but are a bit more fragile than other brands. They are less reliable over time.

Phonak: they have “transposition frequentielle” but only have small cases and then very large ones. They have nothing in-between! à after checking on the software he sees that it’s possible to use the small case which fits his customer’s wish of having a small hearing aid.

Metzger: Yes I recommend you take a product which has it because it won’t mean you have less features. You can always try it for a week and if you don’t like it we can remove it. The only thing that this feature limits is the choice of brands. And in that’s not really a problem since you need to make a choice anyhow!

Honestly, all brands are reliable. Perhaps having the receiver in the ear is a bit of a risk regarding reliability because of the humidity and way in your ear. For sure you will have to change the receiver every 1-1.5 years and you will have to maintain your product. Clean it properly as well as your ears.