Well... the injection itself takes seconds, then one has to lie down and wait a specific period of time to allow the drug to go into the cochlea. But this can be done while lying outside of the doctor's room, and the doctor can see another patient in the meanwhile.
And here in Germany the ENT doctors are doing the IT method. How is it in the US?
I'm not in the US, but I guess the same. I'm trying to think myself around how this might work. In Australia, there aren't many medical specialists to go around. Medical specialists are trained by medical specialists, so there's never an oversupply for obvious reasons. If I need to see one, I get a referral from my GP and I usually need to wait for 2 weeks or more for an appointment.
So, when a treatment for hearing loss becomes available, I get my referral and present at the ENT's "rooms". He/she gets my history, maybe does my audiogram (they might have an audiologist on hand to do it for them), explains the risks and the possible benefits of the it injection. Their consultation rooms don't have beds, so another appointment is made at some sort of treatment facility. That's twenty minutes minimum gone already.
At the treatment facility I'm going to be taking up at least a few minutes of the ent's time (once he/she says hello, explains what they're about to do), plus there's a nurse to keep an eye on me, plus a bed for an hour. The bed requirement alone limits the number of procedures that could be done each day. Make it ten procedures per day per bed. I don't think there's a great oversupply of hospital beds around here either.
So, was it 20% of the population with hearing loss? Ok, halve that, and take another 90% off for those who can't afford the treatment or can't be bothered. That's still a huge tsunami of need descending on a health system that's not equipped to deal with it.
That's why I say don't discount the need for alternative delivery methods. I'd be happy with an it injection myself. If a non-invasive delivery method means I get treatment sooner, I'd be even happier.