Audiology Funnel Numbers: Tests to Trials to Fittings

Ask an ENT owner how the audiology side is doing and you usually hear one number: "We fitted about twenty aids last month." Ask how many tests it took to get there, how many trials, and how many of last year's patients came back for servicing, and the room goes quiet.

That one number hides everything. A clinic can fit twenty aids from sixty tests or from two hundred. It can fit twenty and lose twelve of them to drawers within a year. The fitting count tells you the result. It does not tell you where the money is leaking.

Here is the weekly sheet we set up for ENT practices running audiology, and how to read it.

What are the steps of an audiology funnel?

Five steps, each one a decision point for the patient and a responsibility for someone in your team.

1. Hearing tests done. Everyone who had an assessment this week.
2. Tests showing a loss where a device may help. As judged by the audiologist and ENT, not everyone tested.
3. Trials started. Patients who took a device home for a trial.
4. Fittings completed. Trials that became a purchase and a fitting.
5. Follow-ups kept. Fine-tuning and review visits that happened on the booked date.

Add one more line for the long term: yearly reviews and servicing visits kept, tracked monthly.

What does the weekly sheet look like?

One row per week, with the conversion between steps calculated. Here is an example layout with sample numbers. Use your own.

From these, calculate four rates every week:

• Trial rate: trials divided by "device may help". In week 1, 9 of 14, or about 64%.
• Trial conversion: fittings divided by trials. In week 1, 4 of 9, or about 44%.
• Follow-up rate: follow-ups kept divided by due. In week 1, 9 of 12, or 75%.
• Overall: fittings divided by "device may help". In week 1, 4 of 14, or about 29%.

Compare each rate with your own last eight to twelve weeks. Your own trend matters more than any outside benchmark.

What does a drop at each step usually mean?

Each drop has a different usual cause and a different owner.

Tests falling. Fewer people are reaching you. Look at enquiries, how the front desk handles "hearing test kitne ka hai?" calls, referrals from ENT OPD and other doctors, and whether education talks have stopped. Owner: front desk and marketing.

Few tests showing a loss where a device may help. Possibly a mix shift, such as more routine checks. Not necessarily a problem, but worth knowing. Owner: the ENT and audiologist.

Trial rate falling. Patients who could benefit are not starting a trial. Usually the results explanation is weak, the family was not present, or the fee was discussed before the value. Owner: the audiologist and the doctor's handover.

Trial conversion falling. Trials are ending in returns. Usually no review booked at fitting, no day-2 call, expectations not set, or the paying family member absent at the review. Owner: the audiologist and coordinator.

Follow-ups falling. New users are not coming back for fine-tuning. That predicts aids that end up unused. Owner: front desk reminders and the missed-visit call.

Yearly reviews falling. Long-term patients are drifting away. Owner: your recall system.

How do you turn the numbers into rupees?

Here is a worked example. Say your average fitting with a year of care is ₹85,000. In the sample month above, 54 patients could benefit, 34 started trials and 16 were fitted.

If you lift trial conversion from about 47% to 60% without a single extra test, 34 trials become about 20 fittings instead of 16. Four more fittings is ₹3.4 lakh a month from the same patients you already tested.

Now look at the step before. If you also lift the trial rate from about 63% to 75%, 54 patients produce about 40 trials. At 60% conversion, that is 24 fittings, eight more than today, or ₹6.8 lakh more a month.

This is the revenue engine idea from Good Doctors Go Broke: small lifts at each stage multiply at the end. Fix the leakiest step before you spend on more enquiries.

Who should own the sheet?

One person updates it every week, usually the audiologist or practice manager, from your CRM rather than memory. Then it goes into your Monday numbers review alongside the rest of the clinic's figures. Spend five minutes on it:

1. Which rate dropped most against the last eight weeks?
2. What is the usual cause at that step?
3. What one change will we try this week?
4. Who owns it?

Change one thing at a time, then watch the numbers for a few weeks before the next change. If you change three things at once, you will never know which one worked.

What should you write down besides numbers?

Reasons. For every trial that ends in a return, record why in one line: too loud, cost, appearance, family not convinced, comfort. For every missed follow-up, record what got in the way. After a month, the reasons will tell you more than the rates. We help ENT practices set up this tracking in their CRM and fix the leaks through our front desk and conversion work. Audiology numbers belong beside your surgical and OPD numbers, as covered on our ENT page.

The short version

• The fitting count hides where audiology revenue leaks. Track the whole funnel.
• Five weekly steps: tests, device may help, trials, fittings and follow-ups kept.
• Calculate trial rate, trial conversion, follow-up rate and overall conversion every week.
• Each drop has a usual cause and an owner. Fix the leakiest step first.
• Write down reasons for every return and missed follow-up, and change one thing at a time.