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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

#441

Post by owenversteeg »

ansgri wrote: post #307
mschuster91 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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...

These seem to exist for quite some time, like https://www.etymotic.com/product/gun-sport-pro/

Huh, looks like they also have these for music: https://www.etymotic.com/product/music-pro/

Has anyone here tried them? I'm very curious how well they'd work to use at concerts.

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

#442

Post by jrace »

Underphil wrote: post #388
jrace wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada I did the very same, but for free. Free hearing evaluation, discovered ear infections, referred back to GP. At no time was I compensated by the client or the government.

Interesting that you said client instead of patient. Is that just a thing that differs between countries?

In the industry (at least in Canada) outside of the medical system customers are "clients" and not "patients".

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

#443

Post by jrace »

aurizon wrote: post #313
jrace wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, a subjective test, in a quiet room, with test tones for references is satisfactory for most purposes - if the system determines that it is unable to assess the situation, it can be escalated to an MD.

Exactly, just useful for a screening, but not for determining actual settings.

And there is more that is taken in to account when setting the hearing aids, such as: Age Speech comprehension issues Loudness thresholds cognitive issues

As well there are a handfull of "red flags" that are looked for, some of which can only be done with a visual examination, and others by more involved audiometric testing.

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

#445

Post by jdfellow »

owenversteeg wrote: post #441
ansgri wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These seem to exist for quite some time, like https://www.etymotic.com/product/gun-sport-pro/

Huh, looks like they also have these for music: https://www.etymotic.com/product/music-pro/ Has anyone here tried them? I'm very curious how well they'd work to use at concerts.

I use their passive ER20SX ear plugs for concerts and love them. The active hearing protection they make look great but rather expensive.

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

#446

Post by jrace »

mnemotronic wrote: post #271
jrace wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would need a properly calibrated set of headphones/microphones and environment to conduct a proper hearing test.

It could not. A hearing test requires an environment with exceptional isolation Don't be so picky. Or don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough.

A hearing test is done to compare your thresholds to what is considered "normal".

Without controlled test environment you cannot compare as your test environment will change your thresholds, and therefore make the test invalid.

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

#447

Post by jrace »

justinph wrote: post #309
themodelplumber wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long live the consolidation. May it work out better than the consolidation between tuna cans and more expensive hearing aids. (I have a friend who's an audiologist...watch Starkey, they are very proactive about industry changes and headwinds.)

Starkey is not exactly a quality company and I would be more than happy to see them put out of business. They tried to shaft their employees out of retirement money, they inflated their donation numbers, and a former executive was sent to prison for all kids of fraud.

Starkey used to be an industry leader. Sadly, not for a few decades.

Watch Oticon, and Sonova (Phonak/Unitron).

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

#448

Post by jrace »

arch_btw wrote: post #333
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.

Noise reduction only works so good...but when the "noise" you do not want to hear is speech, they have a much harder time.

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

#449

Post by jrace »

owenversteeg wrote: post #441
ansgri wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These seem to exist for quite some time, like https://www.etymotic.com/product/gun-sport-pro/

Huh, looks like they also have these for music: https://www.etymotic.com/product/music-pro/ Has anyone here tried them? I'm very curious how well they'd work to use at concerts.

They are excellent compared to standard ear-plugs.

Not as much reduction in harmful sounds (do not use with heavy equipment for example) but do a great job of equally attenuating a wide freq band.

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

#450

Post by jrace »

tornato7 wrote: post #342
johncessna wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a product similar to these and they're great. You can have a normal conversation and it didn't take me long to realize their eavesdropping potential. My Surface headphones also have a feature that more or less acts as a hearing aid.

Some years ago there was a set of headphones sold for hunting (amplifying sounds of animals and reducing gunshot noise) that were very popular among the hearing-impaired community as a cheaper alternative to hearing aids.

If all you need is to amplify everything, they work fine.
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