Giant Eagle Adds Self-Check Hearing Screening Kiosks
To improve early treatment of hearing loss, Giant Eagle Inc. has partnered with InnerScope Hearing Technologies Inc. on deploying the latter company's automated self-check hearing screening kiosk in select supermarkets in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million Americans have hearing loss in at least one ear, and millions more have undetected hearing loss due to not having convenient, free access to testing.
Early treatment of hearing loss is crucial to reduce an individual's health and cognitive risks, including early onset of dementia. To help detect untreated mild to moderate hearing losses, Giant Eagle customers can use InnerScope’s hearing kiosks to easily self-check their hearing (typically within three to five minutes), instantly see their results, and have the results emailed to store with their records.
In addition, since hearing aids are the most common treatment for hearing loss, the automated hearing kiosk provides recommendations of InnerScope's hearing aid solutions and the importance of early treatment to help consumers make an informed decision to take the next step for their hearing health.
The initial rollout of the digital kiosks are in the pharmacy department of the following Giant Eagle stores:
- 100 Settlers Ridge Center Dr., Pittsburgh
- 4010 Monroeville Blvd., Monroeville, Pa.
- 30275 Detroit Rd., Westlake, Ohio
- 1700 Corporate Woods Parkway, Uniontown, Ohio
- 6700 Perimeter Loop, Dublin, Ohio
- 840 W. 3rd Ave., Columbus, Ohio
InnerScope and Giant Eagle will continue to strategically deploy the hearing kiosks within Giant Eagle's more than 470 locations.
Giant Eagle is also expanding its hearing health category with InnerScope's direct-to-consumer hearing aids and the brand's other hearing health-related products, available in-store and online. Until the hearing products are launched in-store, Giant Eagle customers can go to http://gianteagle.myheariq.com and receive exclusive discounts offered for purchasing hearing products.
"We are excited about bringing InnerScope's Hearing Screening Kiosks and hearing health-related products into Giant Eagle's pharmacies,” said Jim Tsipakis, EVP of pharmacy at Giant Eagle. “We understand the importance of maintaining proper hearing health and are committed to helping raise awareness for hearing-related health issues in our communities. We look forward to offering a new hearing health category, which will provide our communities with more affordable choices regarding their hearing health needs, including in-store and online purchases of InnerScope's hearing products. We want to give our guests the best tools necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. We are delighted to partner with InnerScope, a company that shares our mission to make customers' lives easier, healthier and happier."
Roseville, Calif.-based InnerScope is a direct-to-consumer manufacturer and distributor of FDA-registered hearing aids, hearing assistive devices, hearing health-related products and personal sound amplifier products. It recently acquired iHear Medical Inc., a DTC cloud-based hearing solution provider, giving the company access to more than 40 patents and an FDA-registered manufacturing and R&D facility. In addition, InnerScope recently acquired HearingAssist, a provider in the direct-to-consumer hearing aid market, with a customer base of 400,000-plus.
With almost $10 billion in annual sales, Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle operates more than 470 stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. The company is No. 37 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food retailers in North America.
