Tech Savvy, Old, Contemplative and Distorted: Four Underserved Groups Who Could Benefit from OTC Products
by Brian Taylor, AuD “Signal & Noise” is a bimonthly column by Brian Taylor, AuD. It’s natural to feel frustrated and unappreciated when a patient with hearing loss rejects your recommendation of hearing aids. It’s even worse when patients with this chronic condition fail to even make an appointment for an evaluation. Those negative feelings, alas,…
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But Wait…There’s More! Part 2 – Labeling
“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…
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Relationship between OTC Price and Behavioral Performance: A Guiding Light
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…
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US Hearing Device Patents for June and July 2017
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,…
Read MoreOTCs: The End is Near
“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…
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