F.D.A. Clears Path for Hearing Aids to be Sold Over the Counter
Source: New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration moved on Tuesday to make hearing aids available over the counter and without a prescription to adults, a long-sought wish of consumers frustrated by expensive exams and devices. As soon as mid-October, people with mild to moderate hearing loss should be able to buy hearing aids online and in retail stores, without being required to see a doctor for an exam to get a prescription.
The F.D.A. cited studies estimating that about 30 million Americans experience hearing loss, but only about one-fifth of them get help. The changes could upend the market, which is dominated by a relatively small number of manufacturers, and make it a broader field with less costly, and perhaps, more innovative designs. Current costs for hearing aids, which tend to include visits with an audiologist, range from about $1,400 at Costco to roughly $4,700 elsewhere.
“This could fundamentally change technology,” said Nicholas Reed, an audiologist at the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “We don’t know what these companies might come up with. We may literally see new ways hearing aids work, how they look.” The F.D.A.’s final rule takes effect in 60 days. Industry representatives say device makers are largely ready to launch new products, though some may need time to update labeling and packaging or to comply with technical details in the rule.
Dr. Robert Califf, the F.D.A. commissioner, tweeted Tuesday that the rule tackles a “critical public health issue” that affects millions. Establishing this new regulatory category will allow people with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss to have convenient access to an array of safe, effective and affordable hearing aids from their neighborhood store or online,” he said. Hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline, depression, isolation and other health problems in older adults. Yet the barriers to getting hearing help have included costs that are not covered by Medicare. There is also stigma — such as appearing “old” — that comes with use.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/health/fda-hearing-aids.html
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If you already have people using "ear buds" then.... Just have to be very careful with the schlock manufacturers.
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after such a long drought is making me hopeful. Even spam calls are are almost gone. I’m very surprised and impressed with what the President and Congress have accomplished in an era of unprecedented threat. We can’t fully celebrate until he’s arrested.
of "mumbling". The fact that he spent nearly four decades surrounded by guitars, drums and amplifiers loud enough to blow your hair back doesn't seem to occur to him. 
But I think that it ends up becoming a risk/benefit/cost factor for those who don't have any known disease-caused hearing loss. I.e., their loss may have been due to their work environment (notably construction/manufacturing/landscape maintenance when there was a lack of protection or lack of use of it or for certain concert musicians/staff who had extended exposure to speaker systems run at excessive volume, etc).
For many, just simple "amplification" is enough to make a quality of life improvement, particularly if one is a senior who doesn't have the funds to shell out for specialists and exotic hearing devices when they are rarely if ever covered by insurance.
The same type of thing is already in place for "reading glasses", which are basically just magnifying lenses in eyeglass frames.
If you had people "making due" with stuff like this for centuries -
then why not? 
Very well said
