The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that adults with mild to moderate hearing loss can soon buy hearing aids directly from retailers. This new process cuts out the need for a medical exam, a prescription and a trip to an audiologist for a fitting.
In the past, consumers have been able to buy hearing aids from certain retailers, but they were not regulated by the FDA. The creation of a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids has been in the works since 2017 and these new guidelines will ensure the hearing aids meet government standards.
Companies haven’t wasted any time taking advantage of this opportunity and the additional competition could mean lower prices for consumers.
A statement from Best Buy says its stores will have FDA-regulated over-the-counter hearing devices for sale this fall. It mentions companies such as Lexie Hearing, Jabra Enhance Plus and Eargo among the brands that will be available. The company has also launched an online hearing assessment tool to help customers find the right product for their needs. As you start the assessment, it asks for your birth year and whether you are male or female, since hearing loss levels vary by age and gender. You’ll need to use headphones so you only hear the background noise coming from the assessment, not your surroundings. The tool is trying to determine whether you can distinguish speech from background noise, so as you listen, you’ll enter the numbers you hear in your headphones. The numbers are fairly easy to hear at first, with faint white noise in the background. As the assessment progresses through 23 steps, the numbers get more faint and the white noise louder. The tool will then let you know whether you have hearing loss, and if so, how bad it is. The website advises those with severe hearing loss to seek out an audiologist, but people with mild to moderate hearing loss are encouraged to start shopping the hearing aids section.
The FDA gave the green light to Bose Corporation to market its self-fitting hearing aid back in 2018, although the press release at the time included the caveat that some state laws “might require hearing aids to be purchased from or dispensed by a licensed hearing aid dispenser.” Bose did try selling them for less than a year and has now partnered with Lexie Hearing to sell the Lexie B1 Hearing Aids Powered by Bose. Wearers can customize the $899 Bluetooth hearing aids with an app, but they do not stream music or take calls.
Medical device company Eargo saw its stock shoot up with the FDA’s announcement. In a press release, Eargo’s CEO Christian Gormsen explained that the industry can now look forward to greater innovation and better access for consumers. Eargo’s top-of-the-line product currently costs $2,650, adjusts to different hearing environments, is water-resistant and “virtually invisible.” They are so small, in fact, that Eargo says the size prohibits them from having a built-in Bluetooth receiver to stream music and take calls.
If you do want to look at an over-the-counter hearing aid that can also take calls and stream music, the Jabra Enhance Plus from GN will be available in that space. The $799 miniaturized wireless earbud is about half the size of Jabra’s current smallest wireless earbud and is meant to be discreet. They are water-resistant and have three different modes to use depending on which sounds you’d like to highlight.
And while Apple’s AirPods Pro aren’t officially hearing aids, they do have a couple of settings that can help you hear better. You can turn on “Conversation Boost” to better focus on the voice of the person in front of you if you’re talking in a noisy environment. AirPods also have something called “Live Listen,” which amplifies sound similar to a microphone and could even help you hear someone speaking across the room.
Consumers could see these FDA-regulated over-the-counter hearing aids in stores within a couple of months. And lower prices and easier accessibility will likely come along with them.