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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

#331

Post by jleyank »

tpmx wrote: post #261
jrace wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apply new firmware to the hearing aids. help you set your phone to work properly. Return them and use a different make/model that works with your phone.

I guess noone is opposed to them offering their services doing just that, as long as they don't actually have to use them.

It was a new iPhone SE and a new vendor (not Phonak which didn't BT). The sound was not as good as Phonak, and the BT worked much of the time but not reliably. This, of course, was not a problem for those wearing one aid - I have two. One pays a lot of money for promise which, honestly, isn't fully delivered.

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

#332

Post by jollybean »

I think a better option might be to ensure that easy and affordable access to all the 'other things' that go along with hearing aids is available. I'm not sure if it's just as simple as 'throw in a device'. I'm wary that inappropriate use and maintenance could have negative health effects.

Sometimes even the most very basic counselling has quite an effect.

Perhaps we should create a nursing/paramedic level specialization for this and allow those people to offer such services.

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

#333

Post by arch_btw »

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…

Yeah but have you ever worn a hearing aid? My wife has a very expensive and up to date one and there is so much white noise. She can play music on it but can't hear well enough in that ear to get any use out of that. I just don't feel like they will ever overlap that much since they have to cater to people who are quite deaf.

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

#334

Post by falcolas »

jjk166 wrote: post #280
falcolas wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Improperly tuned, they will damage your hearing - a permanent effect.

That doesn't make them unsafe. Plenty of devices can damage your hearing but are still perfectly safe to operate. I fail to see how adequate directions for use could not be prepared.

How do you know when something is too loud without measuring it? If your answer is "ringing ears", you've already incurred at least some hearing damage.

Do you have the tools to measure how loud your headphones are? I don't. And so I keep them as low as I can.

Is there a limiter in amplifying headphones to keep them from going above a certain threshold (like 80Db)?

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

#335

Post by jollybean »

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…

"it’s also unclear why many routine checks couldn’t just be done by a family doctor."

Even though it's probably not that complicated, it's probably beyond the scope of a regular doctor to do proper checks - and - it's probably more expensive than getting your eyes checked by an optometrist, which is usually pretty cheap.

In fact, the optometrist model i.e. regulated specialization for something that we don't need very expensive doctors for, is probably a good model for hearing. If there's something more complicated, then they refer you to the ophthalmologist etc..

We should be trying to do this with everything i.e. get people into 3 year specialization programs which make basic health things affordable, and leave more complex cases to MDs.

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

#336

Post by falcolas »

dsizzle wrote: post #270
falcolas wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm a bit confused then - if it's part and parcel of a regular checkup, what's the value of breaking the refraction out into a wholly separate activity?

Your vision could change faster than however often you need your cornea examined or whatever. Or someone may not be able to afford a doctor's visit but know they need glasses (ignoring the question of whether it's right for people to not be able to afford an eye doctor's visit). Extending your logic to other areas would end up with absurdities like needing a doctor to measure your waist size before you can buy clothe…

The impact of an improper prescription - headaches, eyestrain, creating lazy eyes - are far worse than buying pants which are too big.

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

#337

Post by kristofferR »

slownews45 wrote: post #208
kristofferR wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Airpods 3's should be 6 hours without spatial audio. And yes, I do use one at a time! The charge time is pretty quick.

The things that makes it work good as a hearing aid are the microphones and other Pro-only features though, so the non-Pro can't be used.

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

#338

Post by wbl »

dqv wrote: post #322
wbl wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or use kaiser.

It's only available in a few states :( I’m only commenting on what I’ve seen. I’m sure a lot of people get through the system just fine with no issues. But this list is a compilation of many people experiencing issues receiving healthcare.

It's definitely an issue. A shame the HMO model didn't catch on more.

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

#339

Post by jleyank »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #149
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 guess one question is: do those things have to cost thousands of dollars? What are the primary cost components? Are the people doing these jobs highly paid? Are they highly paid because of high costs of college tuition? Would free college help lower their costs?

2+ microphones, signal processing chip, audiophile+ miniature speaker, multi-octave equalizer, intercommunication between ears/dynamic adjustment, multiple profile, remote mic, bluetooth to phone. I think the top-end in-ear musician speakers are comparable, certainly in terms of sound quality. Maybe better as they have (far) more speakers/frequency response as their users are far more critical. They're not magical but they're good when there's not a lot of echo.

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

#340

Post by tenken »

EastOfTruth wrote: post #198
dmurray wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think this is more akin of the Android phone I have asking me if the call I just placed was: clear, had cutouts or dropouts, fuzzy background noise ... And they take that feedback and adjust my call quality in GoogleFi (in theory)... It's not just the concept of s volume button, but more the idea of reinforced (ai) learning over time, or algorithm adjustment with human feedback.
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