Hearing Economics

“Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD.   This is the second of three posts that summarizes the Hearing Industries Association’s (HIA) recommendations to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Device Evaluation, the office primarily responsible for promulgating the OTC hearing aid rules following the passage and signing of the FDA Reauthorization Act into

When it comes to imagining hearing devices in the patent world, the range is broad, both in terms of goals and body regions. It’s a Simple Ear-Thing    “Simplified Hearing Aid” is the title of USPTO patent #9,724,241 by Japanese inventor/owner Ogura.  The device (see feature image), which hearkens back to ear trumpets and the “Ear Resonator” (USPTO patent #4556122) is

Barbara Weinstein’s “Downstream Consequences of Aging” appears bi-monthly at HearingHealthMatters.org. Today’s post is part 2 of a series on reframing the clinical conversation with older adults.   Numerous top down initiatives directly impact how we may wish to reframe the conversation about ARHL and scope of audiologist practice. Two initiatives most relevant to audiologists are: The recommendation that health professional schools

Barbara Weinstein’s “Downstream Consequences of Aging” appears bi-monthly at HearingHealthMatters.org    It is now well accepted that life expectancy is improving, the population of older individuals is increasing, the length of time spent as an older adult is on the rise and prevalence of multimorbidity is growing (Cha, Seo, & Sok, 2012). These demographic shifts have given rise to several important

“Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD.   As widely reported, President Donald Trump signed the FDA Reauthorization Act into law on August 18th. As part of this law, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is directed to create and regulate a new category of hearing aids that can be sold over-the-counter (OTC) to individuals with

by Amyn Amlani, PhD   The reality of over-the-counter (OTC) products becoming federally regulated took one step closer to certainty last week. The FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (HR 2430), which includes provisions for OTC hearing aids for adults with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss, passed successfully through the US House of Representatives in July 2017 and through the US Senate

by Brian Taylor “Signal & Noise” is a bimonthly column by Brian Taylor, AuD   The May 30 installment of Signal and Noise “Good Audiology” series summarized the patient classification system devised by Stephens and Kramer a decade or so ago. It is a classification system that de-emphasizes the audiological assessment results and focuses on the emotions, attitudes and maladaptive

Sound has been used throughout history as a way of exerting power and control. (Lawrence English, 2016) The age of Personal Sound devices comes with a variety of names: PSAPs, OTCs, hearing aids, Hearables. Regardless of the name, manufacturer, or means of distribution, the core goal of such devices is to “aid” and improve communication, social interaction and (by inference)

Last post in the Costco series initiated rudimentary analyses of hearing-related market growth in the US by comparing aggregate variables in the top 25 states ranked by Costco presence (“Top” states) versus the lower 25 states (“Bottom” states).  Top states exceeded Bottom states, in adjusted per capita measures (feature image).  Compared to Bottom states, the Top 25 states feature: 4 times

“Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD. It appears that the creation of an FDA-sanctioned category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids is a fait-accompli  (which is a French-Audiology expression meaning “The End is Near”). For those of us who plan to survive this end-time, I wonder if it might be a useful exercise to imagine what