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Gareth, Two examples: i) infra-red devices are used by people with hearing loss to hear TV. The most expensive brand is 3-4 times the cost of the alternate device. However, in this case, the more expensive brand is of far greater quality and durability than the cheaper brands and is well worth the expenditure. These products tend to carry a usual retail mark-up - say 33%. ii) Hearing aids can retail any where from $400 to $3,000 each. At the lower end of the market (even cheaper versions available via NHS in the UK) the devices offer a minimal function and there's not much of a retail mark-up on them. On the other hand, an average priced hearing aid (say $2,000) that comes with a few added extras offers reasonable auditory input to the user and quite a profit for the dispenser. Roughly estimating the prices - for few dispensers will reveal their margins; a reasonably good hearing aid may cost (wholesale) around $500-$700 - so the dispenser has around $1300 as a margin on the device. This margin is supposed to cover all follow up time the client needs .......... on the mAt 10:15 5/10/98 +0000, you wrote: >Does anyone know of any information on the economic aspects of the >market for assistive devices? > >I'm especially interested in determining how price sensitive the >market for assistive products is. The following scenario illustrates >the point. > >Suppose there is a market for a type of assistive product, it >doesn't matter what it is, it could be screen readers, head operated >mice etc. Suppose that there are devices that are widely available at >say 1000 currency units. Suppose another device is developed, it is >a perfectly adequate replacement device, but costs say 200 currency >units. What happens, who benefits and are there problems? > >In addition to published works, opinions and anecdotes would be >appreciated. > >Gareth >... > > >Dr D. G. Evans >Department of Computation, UMIST, >PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD >Tel +44-161-200-3368 Fax +44-161-200-3373 >email [log in to unmask] > > Anthony Hogan Post-Doctoral Fellow School of Communication Sciences & Disorders Faculty of Health Sciences University of Sydney NSW 2006 Ph: ++ 612 9351 9696 Fx: ++ 612 9351 9977 email: [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%