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The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

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Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#151

Post by distances »

bckygldstn wrote: post #75
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t buy online because I want to see how they look on my face first. Many shops won’t sell you glasses unless your prescription is under 1 year old. This allows them to charge you for an exam when you don’t necessarily need it.

Sites like Warby Parker will send you a bunch of frames to try on for free so you can see how they look. And I find sites like Zenni are so cheap that it's worth taking the risk: an ugly pair can go in the car /gym bag / work desk for if I lose a contact lens.

Every time I change glasses I try at least 20 frames, more likely 40 frames, before finding anything close to acceptable. Something that looks fine on a shelf most often looks ridiculous on my face. Can't imagine ordering online.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#152

Post by scottlamb »

jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

> Buy a hearing aid today from any major provider in Canada and you get: [...]

Do you know what the status quo in the US is? (I don't, other than the prescription requirement from the article.) What you describe for Canada sounds pretty good to me, but I wouldn't assume any part of US healthcare is as inexpensive as Canadian healthcare or that the regulations are as well thought out.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#153

Post by cf100clunk »

chairmanwow1 wrote: post #147
jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this something people could do on their own at home if the hardware had a decent setup UX / tuning instructions? This doesn’t necessarily seem like something that couldn’t be done pretty automatically.

See the Hackaday link I posted earlier for one such example.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#154

Post by fallingknife »

Can't we just get rid of the prescription system in general, and make doctors advisors like lawyers are? I don't need all these gatekeepers "keeping me safe." In Mexico you can just walk into a pharmacy and buy anything. Even pain killers. And it works fine. The only drugs that seem to cause societal problems are the ones that the government tries to keep you from getting.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#155

Post by thegrimmest »

jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

So your argument in favour of socializing this is that people tend not behave optimally, in your view? This seems like a poor reason. Let the people who fall victim to their biases suffer the consequences, don't impose the cost of holding their hands on those who are capable of managing themselves.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#156

Post by jrace »

scottlamb wrote: post #152
jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

> Buy a hearing aid today from any major provider in Canada and you get: [...] Do you know what the status quo in the US is? (I don't, other than the prescription requirement from the article.) What you describe for Canada sounds pretty good to me, but I wouldn't assume any part of US healthcare is as inexpensive as Canadian healthcare or that the regulations are as well thought out.

No idea, but an initial search at "Connect Hearing US" (which also has a large Canadian arm states;

"2-week FREE hearing aid trial* Try before you buy, absolutely free! Take a new pair of hearing aids home for two weeks to see how they work in everyday situations — no money down and no obligation.

3 years FREE Batteries Get three years of batteries included with your purchase no matter what hearing aids you buy. Each year you will receive a box of 60 batteries for each hearing aid.

3-year Warranty and 3-year Loss & Damage Enjoy a three-year manufacturer repair warranty and three years’ loss and damage coverage for all hearing aids" https://www.connecthearing.com/cost-of-hearing-aids/the-conn...

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#157

Post by retrac »

jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

Canadian here as well. I have a 35 dB / 70 dB loss in each ear respectively.

It is a pretty sweet deal if you can afford it. They do just ship you already-programmed replacements if you've lost one. No questions asked. Free adjustments. Very comprehensive. It's pleasant and stress-free while you're covered by one of those packages.

But it's if you can afford it. When you can't afford the all-exclusive package there's really not much else. I spent about half of my childhood, teens and 20s without hearing aids due to cost. Held back my education at all levels. Even when I went to university, while I was eligible for provincial funding for hearing aids at a student, I was still expected to pay the cost up-front first. Independent adult students don't usually have $5000 cash lying around. I missed most of my first year.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#158

Post by dsr_ »

diob wrote: post #135
JCM9 wrote: post #55

There are a number of healthcare areas in the US that have been protected by regulation, but it’s increasingly unclear if this is good for patients, consumers, or public health at large. The increasing sentiment seems to be probably not. Vision care is another area I’d expect to see more changes and disruption coming down the pipeline. Vision care is very important and advanced cases require special skills, but it’s…

There are so many cost barriers to treatments. It's definitely not for patients at this point. For instance, I am supposed to redo my sleep apnea test every so often. But it's out of pocket? Why bother, I know mine is due to my genetics (I'm not overweight). So why am I subjected to reproving my need for a prescription? For eyeglasses, if someone wants to continue the same prescription they can't. It's like healthcar…

That's particularly odd because the normal prescription for sleep apnea right now is for a self-adjusting PAP machine -- an APAP -- which has quite a range of pressures that it will automatically apply to minimize apneation events. And if you exceed the range, it will wake you up and alert you to that fact, too.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#159

Post by mherdeg »

jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

Hmm, why charge $750 instead of billing $20/month forever and giving new hardware every 3 years?

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#160

Post by dmurray »

jrace wrote: post #128

How much would you pay for: *Hearing test * Hearing aid fitting * Usage counselling * Follow up adjustments * Annual retest of your hearing * Replacement of lost hearing aids * Unlimited repair for 3 years ?? ====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear. When I was in that field many companies tried…

I've long thought the problem with hearing aids is the calibration process. People (often old, confused, and less tech-familiar) try them on and spend half an hour answering questions about "does that sound better?"

What if, instead, the calibration process worked constantly? Give the user a button to press when they don't hear something well, and another when they do. Let them have this for a month, let them try it in their kitchen, their bedroom, the local shop or bar, outdoors. Run some reinforcement learning algorithm to optimize for getting more "good" presses and fewer "bad" ones. Optionally, adapt separately to each environment.

Is there a "smart" hearing aid calibrator that works like this? If not, but you think it's plausible, I'm interested in working on it.

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