Even people with significant hearing loss often try to sidestep hearing aids. One obstacle is expense: Hearing aids are not covered by Medicare, and a single device can cost $2,500 or more. Also, since hearing aids are complex medical devices that require special software to set them up, it’s best to get them from an audiologist or a person licensed to sell hearing aids. Nevertheless, for people with moderate to severe hearing loss, wearing an appropriate aid can be life changing.
Historically, hearing aids had to be manually adjusted. Now, they’re digital, which means they can be customized more easily depending on the severity and location of your hearing loss.
“When your hearing is impaired, it’s not just that you can’t hear, it’s that the message traveling to your brain may be garbled,” says Sandra Gordon-Salant, PhD, professor and director of the doctoral program in clinical audiology in the department of hearing and speech sciences at the University of Maryland. “The problem is even worse in noisy or reverberant situations. Today’s technology reduces the background noise somewhat, so the amplified signal will be more audible than without this processing. And, if the listener has sufficient cognitive resources, they should be able to interpret this amplified signal and remain engaged in the conversation.”
Other Options
More affordable over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids should be available within the next few years. The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act, signed into law in August 2017 as part of the US Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017, allows adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss to access OTC hearing aids without being seen by a hearing care professional.
“Access to OTC hearing aids should drive down the cost for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, which is the majority of the population with hearing loss” says Justin S. Golub, MD, MS, assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. “These OTC hearing aids may not be quite as advanced as the more costly aids, but they will be much cheaper and require no prescription, which will dramatically increase access. This will also drive innovation in the field, as more consumer electronics companies like Bose and Samsung get into the market.”
But Dr. Gordon-Salant cautions that people with hearing loss still need regular evaluation by an audiologist or other hearing professional. “Patients who are new to hearing aids—and particularly individuals with any sort of cognitive impairment—need professional support to be as successful as possible with them,” she says. “We would hope that this legislation may lead to more affordable options from hearing aid manufacturers, and a broader range of hearing aids that audiologists can offer to patients.”