The Challenge: Accessible & Personalized Hearing Health Care
The Total Rewards and Employee Benefits leaders at preferred-employer organizations recognize the importance of offering a comprehensive benefits package, with packages catering to the unique needs of the workforce. However, hearing health is often overlooked.
Employees are left struggling to find providers who truly listen and understand their concerns. Traditional major medical focuses on hearing aids, yet, one in four workers (like Emily, whose experience is detailed below), suffer from tinnitus, a condition that isn’t best served by a hearing aid.
The need is there, in every office and on every factory floor, in every sales meeting and in every board room. Unfortunately, until today, that need has gone unmet. What is life be like for employees like Emily? And just how much does ignoring the issue impact productivity?
The Solution: Tuned’s Member-Centered Hearing Health Benefit
Tuned provides a patient-centered approach to hearing health, through personalized education, counseling, and guidance. This includes consultations with expert audiologists who tailor hearing wellness plans for members, and provide referrals to other specialists where necessary.
Tuned also educates employees on hearing health issues and how to maintain better hearing health.
A Real-Life Impact: Emily's Journey to Better Hearing Health
Meet Emily, a 33 year old graphic designer working for a large publishing company. A busy professional who works primarily from home, life for Emily is full of everything she loves. She has a rewarding career and an active social life. Everything is as it should be at this stage of her life. Only this nagging pain had developed around her left ear, and she had begun to develop tinnitus. At the same time, Emily began noticing issues with her left eye. In fact, the left side of her body just ‘seemed off’.
It was bad enough that Emily’s social life effectively stopped. She avoided large crowds and anywhere with lots of noise. This left her feeling isolated, a feeling that worsened after a trip to her primary care physician, who dismissed her concerns without taking any further steps. Now, she was feeling exhausted at work.
Emily’s employer provided access to Tuned and she scheduled an appointment. This is when we met Emily ourselves.
The Outcome: Empowered and Guided to Proper Care
During Emily’s consultations with a Tuned audiologist, she was able to open up about her symptoms and concerns. In fact, just being actually listened to was a relief in itself. The audiologist then provided education and guidance on what would happen next, and a referral to an otoneurologist.
They also discussed the tinnitus she was experiencing, its possible causes, and and what to do to manage her condition.
After the consultation, Emily felt educated and empowered to navigate her healthcare journey. She was finally getting the attention and care she deserved. With Tuned’s support, she was able to manage her tinnitus and get her life back on track. With her confidence restored, she ventured out again and began enjoying life once more.
It was a remarkable transformation. The cost to Emily’s employer? Less than $1 PEPM. With 31% of the workforce using Tuned, the organization has realized there are a large number of their employees, who like Emily, have hidden hearing health issues.
The Bottom Line: Hearing Health is For Everyone, and Tuned Delivers
By offering Tuned’s member-centered hearing health benefit, companies enhance their total rewards package and improve employee satisfaction.
Tuned's comprehensive and proactive approach to hearing health ensures employees receive the care they need when it’s actually needed, fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment.
In addition to personalized care, Tuned’s emphasis on education highlights the prevalence of hearing health issues like tinnitus, making employees aware of the resources available to them and the importance of timely intervention.
To learn more about how Tuned can elevate your employee benefits package and address common hearing health issues like tinnitus, contact us today.
Together, we will create a healthier, happier workforce that’s perfectly Tuned for success.