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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

#191

Post by thegrimmest »

jrace wrote: post #167
thegrimmest wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was not an argument, but a statement. If one model (pay as you go) causes harm to the whole industry (people know believe hearing aids do not work) then why would the industry continue?

I'm suggesting the model to use should be decided individually by members of the industry, not imposed on the industry as a whole. If some orgs want to use pay-as-you-go that's fine. If others want to offer more comprehensive service, that's fine too. I'm arguing for allowing the interactions to take place, even if some choices made are suboptimal.

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

#192

Post by kristofferR »

slownews45 wrote: post #181

Fantastic news. If you can afford the $5,000 - great! The current system works for you. 80% of people cannot and so are stuck. For folks with mild/moderate loss (where a LOT of people don't get help) something as simple as letting Apple tweak noise cancellation to be voice enhancing and providing a tuning and hearing test app in the iphone would be a godsend. The elderly miss out on a lot of family life because of he…

Yeah, the AirPods Pro's are amazing as hearing aids.

The only issue is that they are very visible and only last 4 hours each charge (I suppose you could get two pairs and switch between them every four hours).

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

#193

Post by aidenn0 »

jrace wrote: post #167
thegrimmest wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was not an argument, but a statement. If one model (pay as you go) causes harm to the whole industry (people know believe hearing aids do not work) then why would the industry continue?

Because it's easier to get someone to pay $100 for something they aren't sure will work (and then have their beliefs confirmed) than to get someone to pay $1000 for something they aren't sure will work (and then have their beliefs refuted)?

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

#194

Post by res0nat0r »

bckygldstn wrote: post #38
tshaddox wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really a problem in practice? I've always had a valid prescription when I buy glasses, but at the glasses store I just flash them the prescription on my phone for a few seconds. It's a PDF on official looking letterhead, but I don't think there's any verification. I suppose it's probably not the best idea to fake an eyeglass prescription, but it certainly seems like it would be very easy to do.

* I had an optometrist only give me a prescription for glasses, even though I indicated I wear contact lenses on my intake form and was wearing them at the appointment! When I realised a few days later after being denied trying to buy contacts with a glasses prescription, the optometrist said I would have to come in again and pay for a full consultation (out of pocket as my insurance only covers one per year). * I've…

My contact prescription hasn't changed in 10+ years and I've been tired of having to go across town somewhere to get an eye exam, 1-800-contacts has an online exam you can take and don't need to drive anywhere and it's all digital. I've used this the last 2 times I've renewed and gotten new contacts and what I'll keep doing from here on out.

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

#195

Post by criddell »

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…

For the first four items on your list, I would pay for the hardware cost of the hearing aids plus $200-$300. The last three things should be optional like Apple Care or other service contracts.

Is tuning (and retuning) something that could be automated? Because of tinnitus, my hearing is not the same every day and so static settings feel like the wrong solution.

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

#196

Post by handrous »

bckygldstn wrote: post #48
weaksauce wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm pretty sure us based online don't require a formal verification... i only have experience with coastal though and only for glasses.

The law only applies to contact lenses, not glasses.

I've used Vision Direct (someone linked them, above) for contacts, with an "expired" subscription. Entered whatever numbers I liked (so, the ones from my existing contacts boxes), paid, and received contacts. Only slightly cheaper than buying at my optometrist's office, but saved me pointless visits resulting in "yep, looks like your eyes haven't changed... yet again". Reckon I'll stretch those to every 3-4 years rather than annually, assuming I don't notice problems sooner.

I've used Coastal and Zenni for glasses. No problems.

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

#197

Post by jtwaleson »

treeman79 wrote: post #176
jtwaleson wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool, that's a great hacker approach! Fine-tuning like this isn't economical for eye doctors, and 99.5% of the population isn't interested but it will give you the best results. Just checking because it looks like you're from '79 and talk about drifting vision: you know about presbyopia and accommodation? You might need multi-focals.

It’s cranial pressure and sixth nerve palsy. As my cranial pressure goes up my horizontal eye nerves weaken causes vision to go double. Prism glasses fixes this. But it’s a completely different power. +3 goes to -1 or anything in between. As pressure goes down it reverts. Medication or activity can drop or raise it in an hour or less.

Wow, that's more serious than what I was expecting and beyond my limited ophthalmology knowledge. Glad that you managed to find a solution.

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

#198

Post by EastOfTruth »

dmurray wrote: post #160
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…

> 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.

On TVs, they call those buttons volume buttons, it is revolutionary.

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

#199

Post by ericmcer »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #163
diob wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> For eyeglasses, if someone wants to continue the same prescription they can't. What? You don't need a medical prescription to order glasses online. You can put in whatever numbers you want and they'll happily make them. You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

You 100% need a prescription to order prescription glasses or contact lenses online. Expired prescriptions will be rejected as well.

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

#200

Post by comeonseriously »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #163
diob wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> For eyeglasses, if someone wants to continue the same prescription they can't. What? You don't need a medical prescription to order glasses online. You can put in whatever numbers you want and they'll happily make them. You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

> You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

Not to mention, getting an eye exam is more than just clearing up your vision. It can reveal other issues (and not just eye related! They can often see other problems, like say, cholesterol issues, for example.)

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