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

Post by LocalH » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 10:26 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #256

LocalH wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism (as a life goal , rather than one of many tools in a toolkit) is what makes all that possible. If can insert yourself in the middle of a transaction, and do that long enough, then you can get pretty entrenched to the point where people just expect it to be that way. I maintain that, if automobiles were invented today , the horse-and-buggy industry would be able to successfully fend them off, based on the p…

There's plenty of capitalism happening in the countries where these things are readily available. Cronyism is the word should have been looking for.

Post by aurizon » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 10:42 PM UTC

jrace wrote: post #246

aurizon wrote: post #183

A hearing test measures how sensitive your hearing is in each ear at a range of frequencies - they send a beep at a certain frequency and ask you if you can hear it, and lower the volume until you can not hear it, raise it to confirm you can hear it. This is repeated in each ear over the normal range of hearing, nominally 20- Hz to 20,000 Hz, most older people have lost at the low and high end. The detailed frequency…

And the test is done in a controlled environment with calibrated equipment. A "iphone hearing test' is a useful screening tool, and no more sadly.

Post by spicybright » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 10:53 PM UTC

cf100clunk wrote: post #43

ghostly_s wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there aren't any FDA regulations preventing you from building a DIY hearing aid?

But there are batteries (pun intended) of lawyers from the hearing aid manufacturers who would act against DIY kit vendors if asked. I wonder who/what is the best entity to help shield DIYers from patents...

Post by BurningFrog » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 11:10 PM UTC

lisper wrote: post #63

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…

> Why the US can’t follow the models followed most elsewhere in the world is unclear To the contrary, it is very clear: regulatory capture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 11:14 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #269

gpt5 wrote: post #244

We are seeing a long term consolidation between hearing devices and headphones. On the headphones side, we are getting smaller, truly-wireless headphones with some ambient sound features (such as noise cancellation, and iOS hearing features). New trends like AR would just accelerate the change due to the need to solve all day worn audio devices. On the hearing aids side, almost every hearing aid today acts as an alwa…

> features such as protecting your ears against a sudden loud noise Reminds me of the Artemis Fowl series or the first Iron Man, awesome to see former science fiction coming closer to reality. Adaptive ear protection in real life would be really interesting on construction sites or for musicians...