In the US, and nearly everywhere else this type of hearing assist tech is sold, the Hearing Aid cartel is responsible for lobbying and influencing and bribing officials to maintain a stranglehold on their cash cow. Retired, elderly people with extra cash get screwed over with markup rates of 40,000% or more (yes, that's the right number of zeros.) Hearing aid technology, along with DSPs and specialized high quality, miniaturized sound technology, has received full benefits of economies of scale. These devices cost $5 or less per unit mass produced, but because of the "medical device" classification and the overreach of the FDA, people who need these devices cannot afford them.
Insurance won't cover it. Until you're completely disabled or retired, you're stuck paying for hearing aids out of pocket. $2500 or more, apiece.
The patent situation around hearing aid features in airpods and other headsets is the responsibility of the hearing cartel - the 5 largest hearing aid companies that collude to maintain this status quo, prevent meaningful competition, innovation, or alleviation of the plight of the hearing disabled.
These people are preying on some of the most vulnerable people worldwide and the US government is complicit in it. There is no valid, rational basis in fact for the medical device classification or the rationalizations used to justify it. People "might" damage their hearing? Liability disclaimers work for literally every other possible product. Maybe, just maybe, people are capable of adjusting an equalizer on their own, and those who can't or don't want to, can go to an audiologist. Dialing in hearing aids isn't particularly difficult, and the dangers are obvious and easy to avoid.
This is a world where people go to concerts and make other decisions injurious to their hearing health, and most of the time, the bands aren't required to disclaim liability or even notify of the potential danger, but if you want to correct your hearing, you're shit outta luck unless you pay through the nose.