OTC Hearing Aids
I am a member of the Saddlebrooke Hearing Discussion Group. In this month’s article I would like to discuss why Over the Counter (OTC) hearing aids haven’t been successful in the U.S. The FDA first allowed retailers to begin selling these devices online and in stores on October 17, 2022. These devices were lauded as a solution for the over 20 million American adults who have mild hearing loss that isn’t severe enough to warrant expensive prescription devices. So, what has been the actual experience?
In this article I am sharing some information I have learned from listening to a Dr. Cliff video entitled:” OTC Hearing Aids Have Lost BILLIONS of Dollars!” Another source for this article was a Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Hearing Revolution that Wasn’t” which was published on October 5, 2024.
It was expected the OTC aids would be available at much less expensive price and encourage more people to adopt hearing aid treatment. We have learned from the audiology students attending our meetings that people typically delay getting hearing aids for 7 years. We have also learned that your risk of cognitive decline increases if you suffer from hearing loss. It was hoped that OTC devices would encourage individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss to get help before they needed more expensive prescriptive hearing aids.
According to Dr. Cliff in 2022 prior to OTC hearing aids being allowed the adoption rate of hearing aids was 38.4%. By 2025 that adoption rate had only increased to 39%. So why haven’t they been more broadly accepted? Dr. Cliff identified 5 reasons in his video. The first reason is that individuals with mild hearing loss didn’t believe that their loss was severe enough. They consider hearing aids to be a future need. These were the very individuals targeted by OTC aids and 75% of all individuals with hearing loss are in this mild to moderate category.
The second reason is that the wrong people were buying OTC devices. Due to all the hype people with more severe hearing loss thought that OTC aids were an alternative to prescriptive hearing devices. The third reason is that OTC aids were nowhere near as good as advertised. Dr. Cliff believes that all OTC aids he reviewed have major shortcomings. The fourth reason is that they are poor value for the price. A good pair will cost close to $1,000. For not that more money you can get a significantly better set of prescription aids. The last reason is that they are not profitable for the companies that make them.
Our group meets on the 2nd Friday of every month at 10 AM in the Catalina Room in HOA2. We typically have Doctor of Audiology students from the University of Arizona in attendance. If you have questions or comments about this article or would like to have your email added to our distribution list, contact me at tgaule@outlook.com