How Hearsay ratings work
Every rating on a Hearsay clinic profile comes from that clinic’s own patients. This page explains who is asked, what they are asked, and the rules that apply to every profile.
Who gets a survey
Only patients of the clinic. Each one is invited by their own clinic, by email or in the office. There is no public form, so someone who has not been a patient cannot leave a rating.
When they are asked
Patients get a short survey by email after a visit. Patients who were fitted with hearing aids are surveyed about 90 days after the fitting, because it takes time to know how well hearing aids are working.
What they are asked
Patients rate each part of their care on its own, out of 5:
- Booking. How easy it was to get an appointment, how soon, and whether reminders were clear.
- The front office. Check-in, waiting time, paperwork and how the office felt.
- The hearing test. Whether it felt thorough, and whether the results were explained in plain words.
- The treatment plan. Whether options and costs were clear, and whether they felt informed rather than sold to.
- Hearing aids. Fit, comfort and sound, plus the fitting and the follow-up visits.
- Their provider. How the audiologist or hearing aid specialist who cared for them did.
The same six parts are used at every clinic, so a rating means the same thing wherever you look.
How a rating is calculated
Hearsay adds up patients’ answers and shows the result as an average out of 5, or as the share of patients who gave a rating of 4 or 5. Next to every rating you can see how many patient surveys it is based on.
Why some ratings are missing
A rating appears only once at least 10 patients are behind it. With fewer, one unusually good or bad visit would move the average too far, and a single patient’s answer could be guessed. Until then the profile shows nothing for that part of care. A new clinic, or a new location, will have gaps at first.
Ratings and written reviews are different things
Survey answers are private. A profile shows only totals and averages, never one patient’s answers.
A written review is separate. It appears on a profile only when a patient chooses to publish one, and it is shown under their first name and last initial.
Google ratings
When a profile shows a Google rating, it is the average of the clinic’s public Google reviews, shown with the number of reviews. It is kept separate from the Hearsay survey ratings.
What clinics can and cannot do
- A clinic can reply to a review.
- A clinic cannot change a rating.
- A clinic cannot hide a review.
- Hearsay calculates every rating from patients’ answers.
No rankings, no ads
Hearsay does not rank clinics, and it does not sell placement. Clinics pay Hearsay to survey their patients. No clinic can pay to look better.
Questions
Email info@hearsay.health.