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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

#451

Post by jrace »

bradknowles wrote: post #360
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/

I want something a bit more selective. Like, capable of completely blocking out the sound of my wife snoring. I’m sure that I’m not the only one in this boat, but I may be one of the rare males complaining about their wife snoring.

Part of snoring is low frequency sounds, which even with fully plugged ears, transmits through bone conduction.

also long term use of ear plugs with sleeping can cause unwanted side-effects.

When we sleep our hearing system does not turn off (safety), and when you wear ear plugs while sleeping you run the risk of making your hearing work harder - and then if you have no plugs in your hearing system is now (hopefully temporarily) more sensitive than before.

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

#452

Post by TaylorAlexander »

jleyank wrote: post #422
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the actual hardware compare to a $180 pair of AirPods? I wonder if basically Apple and Samsung should be making these instead of smaller medical device companies.

I suspect there’s nowhere enough money for apple or Samsung to enter the medical devices field for real. I would think the headphones have a Bluetooth receiver, a d/a converter and a speaker. They rely on the associated device to handle “adjustments”. Might be noise reduceing, but that only adds a mic and a phase inverter. Much simpler device. Getting medical approval takes time and $$… Easier to put fine print that…

Looking over their marketing materials, the Airpods seem to have much more power than that onboard. They use their own custom silicon chip onboard and it seems to be pretty capable. I wonder if (doubt?) medical device manufacturers are designing custom processors for their hearing aids.

"...the new AirPods feature Adaptive EQ that tunes sound in real time based on how AirPods fit in the user’s ear. An inward-facing microphone monitors for sound, and then Adaptive EQ, powered by computational audio, tunes the low and mid frequencies to account for what may be lost due to variances in fit. "

"To help with sound clarity, beamforming microphones block out ambient noise and focus on the user’s voice, while users can also enjoy a hands-free experience by simply saying 'Hey Siri' for requests."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/introducing-the-next-...

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

#453

Post by throw10920 »

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…

Would "bring[ing] the tech industry innovation to hearing aids through natural progression of headphones technology" mean that hearing aids would now need to be coupled to a smart device?

If so, then hard-of-hearing people who work in secure areas where they can't bring their phones will be very unhappy...

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

#454

Post by 0des »

jtwaleson wrote: post #251
0des wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious which law that might be. Is this something you've run into legal issues with in the past?

I'm CTO of easee, an online eye exam and have been involved in some US market research. It's a rapidly developing field and a lot of regulations are a gray area or different per state. E.g. it might be mandatory to have a valid prescription, but it might not be mandatory for the seller to verify this before selling glasses online. I've just learned some new things about the eyeglass rule from a sibling in this thread…

I'm trying to visualize or recall any complications that could arise or have passed from shipping or receiving 'unsanctioned' glasses. I can't even imagine which regulating body would give orders to which enforcement organization that could make anything happen. To live by these rules is enabling my own abuse.

Just curious, since you mention that you're soon to be in the business of eye exams, do you think at some point your business is going to have to maintain this status quo in order to 'play ball' legislatively during your growth phase? If yes, how do you feel about that? If no, can you explain why you'd be exempt? Are these laws something that articulates with your business model or is this only in adjacent businesses like providing lenses?

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

#455

Post by gramie »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #452
jleyank wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect there’s nowhere enough money for apple or Samsung to enter the medical devices field for real. I would think the headphones have a Bluetooth receiver, a d/a converter and a speaker. They rely on the associated device to handle “adjustments”. Might be noise reduceing, but that only adds a mic and a phase inverter. Much simpler device. Getting medical approval takes time and $$… Easier to put fine print that…

Looking over their marketing materials, the Airpods seem to have much more power than that onboard. They use their own custom silicon chip onboard and it seems to be pretty capable. I wonder if (doubt?) medical device manufacturers are designing custom processors for their hearing aids. "...the new AirPods feature Adaptive EQ that tunes sound in real time based on how AirPods fit in the user’s ear. An inward-facing m…

One of the issues is that Apple can take their time processing the sound, but hearing aids have a very small window of time (< 15ms, if I remember correctly) before there is a noticeable lag between sight and sound.

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

#456

Post by Turing_Machine »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #428
Turing_Machine wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the online shops now actually allow you to upload a selfie, and they'll composite your chosen frames onto your face. Probably not quite as good as a live view, but not bad.

What about the privacy issues of sending them my face for them to keep in a database forever?

I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed. Unless you stay indoors all the time, or maybe you live in Bush Alaska or something, your face is likely being captured and stuck in a database tens of times every single day.

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

#457

Post by aerostable_slug »

zucked wrote: post #434
some_random wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This trend would make hearing aids not just target hearing impaired people, but also individual with normal hearing. For example, features such as protecting your ears against a sudden loud noise, silencing a loud restaurant so you can have a quiet conversation or improving the audio of a soft speaker could be useful for everyone. Amusingly this already exists, there are a bunch of ear muffs (and some in ear equival…

Having just experienced a pair of these, it was incredible. I don't have extensive hearing loss beyond what being a teenager listening to music too loud will do for you, but the way these headphones relayed "normal" sounds while rejecting "loud" sounds was one of those - "why aren't these more popular?" moments. It felt truly superhero-esque.

What's even cooler is turning up the volume and have Spidey-Senses.

I've done this on a couple of hunts and it's amazing to hear everything -- you can't believe how loud grass brushing against you can be. It's like you can hear like the elk do. Well, not quite... Good sets (I like MSA Sordin) have excellent stereo imaging in front of you as well.

In shooting classes, I turn them backwards so the microphones point at the instructor.

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

#458

Post by jjeaff »

dymk wrote: post #262
jjeaff wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't any verification. They certainly don't call the optometrist to verify. Not saying I've done this, but one could submit an old Rx and change the date in Photoshop as well as the name and number of the doctor and buy contact lenses or glasses online just about anywhere. Theoretically, of course.

Of course, it's also both theoretically and practically fraud, and most people would rather spend the $100 on an eye exam every 2 years than expose themselves to rx fraud (2 years jail / $2k fine)

Yes, theoretically that is a risk. But practically, it has never and would never happen.

And an eye exam for specialty contact lenses is way more than $100. Really, more than $100 in many places just for a simple reading glasses RX. And many docs won't just do your Rx. They require you do a full exam.

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

#459

Post by bookofjoe »

etherealG wrote: post #436
bookofjoe wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I'm outside running on sidewalks along city streets, music via AirPods Pro with Noise Cancellation turned on sounds a bit better BUT I prefer to keep this feature turned off in favor of being able to hear ambient cars etc.

I’ve spent hours trying to find a review of transparent mode on AirPods or any other similar transparency modes with regards to reducing wind noise amplification while still allowing sounds of cars etc. through. I’m looking for a good solution to listening to music while riding a bike that’s safe but better sound quality than bone conduction. Sadly I can’t find any objective measurement of these combinations of noise…

https://screenrant.com/apple-airpods-transparency-mode-works...

https://krisp.ai/blog/apple-noise-cancelling-airpods/

https://www.iphonehacks.com/2020/01/how-use-airpods-pro-acti...

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

#460

Post by weaksauce »

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 see... any clue why it's only contacts?

edit thinking about it a little bit i could see it being harmful to not have someone go through the "you don't want to do this or else you could potentially lose your eyesight" talk at least once.

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