Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids for People that Want to Do it Properly
Following a finalized ruling by the FDA, Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aids were introduced in 2022 for people that are 18 years of age and older who have a perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment.Considered to be the ‘readers’ against the prescription eyeglasses, OTC devices have been created for people that require a helping hand in certain situations but do not require a full-time or long-term solution.
The Concerns of Hearing Doctors
As a trusted team of hearing doctors, we naturally have concerns with over-the-counter hearing aids. Our biggest concern is that the guidelines do not require an adult to have a hearing evaluation prior to purchasing this category of devices.
This results in two risks:
Firstly, without having a hearing assessment, it results in individuals self-prescribing a solution that may be entirely wrong for their needs.
An example of this is that we often see patients that believe they have mild-to-moderate hearing loss, yet when we assess their hearing sensitivity, we discover alternative hearing-related challenges such as:
Without a comprehensive hearing evaluation, you could be addressing something quickly fixable or worsening a medical concern.
Secondly, we’re concerned about the recommendation that over-the-counter devices are for people with a perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss. As hearing loss often happens slowly and gradually, it’s almost impossible to know what level of hearing loss you have until you have a hearing evaluation.
We often see people that walk through our door that believe that they have mild hearing loss, only to discover that they have severe hearing loss that requires immediate attention.
Over-the-counter hearing aids could be applying a band-aid to a more serious challenge by not requiring a hearing evaluation.