Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids

Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids

On October 17th, 2022, major retail stores began selling over-the-counter hearing aids. Over-the-counter hearing aids are new hearing aids that can be bought without a health care professional. OTC hearing aids became available in mid-October and are used to treat mild -moderate hearing loss.

A student from Hidden Valley says, “I’m not sure that these new hearing aids will be as effective because they can’t be specialized to your needs but it’s cool that they have made them.”

The FDA finalized the rule for these hearing aids after getting thousands of messages when the rule was proposed this month. People that purchase these hearing aids can be fitted to some sizes for the user and can be easier to adjust than prescription hearing aids.

These hearing aids are also more cost effective; the setting can be changed using a smartphone and can be adjusted by audiologists. Despite these pros of over-the-counter hearing aids, there are some downsides. These include fewer features than regular hearing aids, have a shorter warranty, and cannot be custom fit to the consumers ears. These conflicting strengths and weaknesses of the over-the-counter hearing aids lets the question arise of, are these new hearing aids worth it?

Another student at Hidden Valley says “I don’t think that the over-the-counter hearing aids will be worth it because they can’t be fit to your ear, and they don’t treat more serious hearing loss. I think if someone were to get hearing aids, they should get the prescribed ones, so they fit their needs better.”