Over-The-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aids are a Reality, starting This Week

Posted on October 17, 2022 by admin

In her weekly newsletter, our Congresswoman Anna Eshoo reminded us that hearing aids are now available over the counter without a prescription or exam. The ability to buy over-the-counter hearing aids is going to save hearing-loss patients an average of $3,000 per pair. Eshoo first voted for this policy in 2017; it took five years for this to become a reality, so we are grateful for the speed with which the FDA and our House of Representatives conduct business. HLAA provides an OTC Tips Sheet for patients, from this link.

Apple i14 Has Added Captioning

Posted on October 12, 2022 by admin

Apple’s new iPhone 14 has added a feature that is important for people with poor hearing. People with poor hearing need to have some way of reading what has been said. Captioning has been done by humans (who have good hearing and are trained to make motions that the poor hearing can understand) or electronics that can “hear” and display them on a screen. Historically, there was some specialized software that runs on phones and (sizable) companies that sell remote captioning services. We have purchased this new iPhone and found that it is impressive.

How to prevent your mask from knocking off your hearing aids

Posted on January 14, 2022 by admin

We normally wear a neck gaiter, because the standard masks with ear loops can knock off our hearing aids. Unfortunately, when we have a medical appointment the nurse either puts a cheap standard one on top of my gaiter or makes me replace it with a standard one. Fortunately, there are effective alternatives. One is to get a mask with elastic bands that go around your head instead of around your ears. Others include tie-on masks (not very convenient, though), N95 respirator masks, sweatband with attached buttons, and barrettes.

People Who Are Hard-of-Hearing Can Still Enjoy Playing or Listening to Music

Posted on January 5, 2022 by admin

Technology is rescuing people from a music-less life, as hearables can monitor their brain and body. Not Impossible Labs, the award-winning technology incubator and the content studio has created Music: Not Impossible, a Vibro-textile wearable that creates an immersive experience of music for both deaf and hearing people. Actually, the development team abandoned the idea of a vest, turning its attention to different vibrations on different parts of the body. And some people not only listen to music but also play an instrument. In our case, it is the trumpet, for which there is a whole website.

Hearing Aids Broaden Their Scope, Even to Haunting the Wearers

Posted on October 22, 2021 by admin

The technology in hearing aids continues to develop, enabling them to offer their wearers additional functions beyond sound amplification. Hearing aids maker Widex has upgraded its MOMENT family of hearing aids to offer streaming music, calls, and other content from Android smartphones (Android Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA). (This should not be mistaken for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.) In an unrelated development, Apple Inc. is exploring possibilities to add health-related functions such as enhancing hearing, reading body temperature, and monitoring posture to its AirPods. Unfortunately, ill-meaning people could use the technology for evil ends, including haunting the wearers. Unrelated to Android and Apple, we ourselves had a scary experience: We were wearing our hearing aids and they were working fine when they started saying “Check Partner”, but when we checked both of the hearing aids they were in place just fine. Then we started hearing a couple of voicemails loud enough for us to understand.

Since 2020, Apple included Headphone Accommodations in the new iOS releases; the sound picked up by these microphones is amplified with both frequency-dependency gain and compression, giving App AirPods Pro hearing aid-like capability.

Hearing Aids Can Be Too Small

Posted on February 1, 2021 by admin

Many hearing aid manufacturers advertise that their products are so small that they cannot be seen. This is ill-advised for two reasons. First, many hearing aid users are older and have poorer coordination in their fingers so they have trouble inserting/removing and adjusting the hearing aids, as well as changing batteries. Second, people speaking to the users don’t realize that they have trouble hearing so they don’t speak louder and slower.

Wearing Required Masks Can Make You Lose Your Hearing Aids

Posted on November 26, 2020 by admin

And if you also wear glasses it is even worse. There are some tactics that will prevent or minimize the likelihood of loss. And if you have hearing aids that are fully into the ear, for example, the Eargo models, there is very little likelihood that you would lose them. But if you are wearing a style that doesn’t have ear loops, such as the Milwaukee Face Shield Gaiter 4223R, you only have to worry about your glasses. Alternatively, you could purchase a NeoSensory Buzz hearing aid, which is worn on your wrist.

Sound World Solutions HD75’s Are Cost-Effective Hearing Aids

Posted on November 19, 2020 by admin

A large number of people—especially in poorer countries–who are hard of hearing cannot afford to purchase big-brand hearing aids. Sound World Solutions was founded by two men who wanted to provide affordable hearing aids to those people. An earlier product was the basic Personal Sound Amplifier CS50, which—like all Personal Sound Amplifier Products (PSAPs)–could make sounds louder but could not address all of the user’s hearing difficulties. We purchased a pair (left and right) of CS50’s several years ago, and it did improve our hearing. But as our hearing worsened we needed a more sophisticated product, so when Sound World Solutions introduced its HD75 hearing aids pair we bought it. In the meantime, we had purchased a pair of hearing aids from one of the major brands that cost about five times the HD75’s. (The major brands are typically sold through networks of audiologists, who examine the buyers and fine-tune the hearing aids for those buyers.) We lost ONE of the major brand’s units and had to pay to replace it, at a price (after insurance) higher than the PAIR of HD75’s. More recently, we are using our HD75’s because the masks that we are required to wear to combat the coronavirus are concerned that the masks will knock them off our ears.

Sound World Solutions is one of many companies competing for the PSAP market; this market has minimal regulations. To protect consumers, finally, this week, Senators Warren (D-MA) and Grassley (R-IA) asked the FDA to look into regulating the OTC market for hearing aids, without delay.

Using Your Smartwatch to Control Your Hearing Aids

Posted on November 5, 2020 by admin

If you are rich enough or lucky enough to have a top-rated brand of hearing aids such as Oticon, ReSound, Starkey, or Widex you can control them using a smartwatch. You can control them–as well as the Hearlink range of Philips and Zerena range of Bernafon—using a smartwatch. You can also control a range of other brands using Starkey’s TruLink Hearing Control using the iPhone and iPad, as well as some Pebble smartwatches, three Android Wear watches, the Samsung Gear S Moto 360, and Asus Zen Watch.

Are OTC Hearing Aids Satisfactory?

Posted on September 29, 2020 by admin

There is a growing volume of OTC (over-the-counter) hearing aids. These OTC products are virtually always considerably cheaper than the prescription (non-OTC) ones (that always involve an audiologist). Before the emergence of these new models, many deaf or hard-of-hearing people refrained from purchasing hearing aids because they were too expensive. However, in 2016 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced important changes in the law that made these OTC permissible to sell, and at considerably lower prices.

Size matters. As people age, they not only may become hard of hearing but also may have less nimble fingers, so tiny (especially in-the-ear) hearing aids may not be advisable (unless it uses Bluetooth so can be adjusted from their cellphone). Actually, it would be better for them to ignore their vanity and buy larger hearing aids so that others know that they are hard of hearing and speak louder. And it is generally easier and cheaper to make larger hearing aids.

A bunch of “big hat no cattle” low-priced hearing aids and PSAPs (personal sound amplification products) brands have full-page splashy advertisements in magazines and newspapers (sometimes only once or twice, then gone). We personally had an experience with the now-defunct Soundhawk, which suffered from poor customer service, lack of Bluetooth (which, combined with microscopic buttons, made adjustment impossible). Here are some (there are others whose absence from the list does not imply they are inferior) that have been around long enough that buyers can expect to receive satisfactory after-sale support:

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Category Archives: Hearing Aids