Mass Eye and Ear Experts Urge FDA to Allow OTC Hearing Aids
BOSTON, MASSACHUSSETTS — Hearing loss experts at Mass Eye and Ear are advocating for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement a law passed by Congress permitting the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. In a new column published November 19, 2020 in The New England Journal of Medicine, the experts write that the FDA has remained silent…
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Senators Urge FDA to Initiate ‘Overdue Rules’ for OTC Hearing Aids
WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate its overdue rules for over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids “without further delay”. (read full letter here)…
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JAMA Study: Premium and Basic Hearing Aids Do Not Outperform PSAPs for Mild or Moderate Losses
Since 2015, with the release of the PCAST report, over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids have been a hot topic among professionals who work directly with persons with hearing loss. Although OTC hearing aids have not been fully codified by the FDA and does not officially yet exist as a product category, it is believed by many…
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New Studies Show Limitations, Potential Benefits of PSAPs
Two recently published studies from independent hearing aid research labs indicate that some personal sound amplification devices or PSAPs could offer benefit to individuals with milder hearing loss. The first study, published on-line in September in the American Journal of Audiology, was conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa. In the laboratory-based study, they…
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News Roundup for October 25: Trends in Consumer-driven Healthcare that Could Change Audiology
Even though the FDA’s OTC legislation seems to generate many of the industry headlines these days, there are still a lot of notable news items that could have a direct impact on how audiology is practiced over the next generation, so before you settle on your Halloween costume for this year’s big bash, spend a…
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CBS Sunday Morning Turns Up the Volume on Hearing Aids
The evolving hearing aid industry was the subject of a nearly 10-minute in-depth feature on CBS Sunday Morning. David Pogue, tech critic for Yahoo Finance, talked to several respected industry figures, including Starkey executives Bill Austin and Achin Bhowmik, about recent technological breakthroughs in hearing aids. A substantial portion of the television news magazine piece…
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The 2018 Hearing Professional Dispensing Survey
TUCSON, ARIZONA — Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM), a leading online resource for hearing professionals and consumers with hearing loss, has released the results of their 2018 Hearing Professional Dispensing Survey. The online survey was conducted in May 2018, with the purpose of exploring professional opinion and dispensing patterns in the United States. Approximately 300 audiologists…
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Some Experts Say the OTC Consensus Statement a Rubber Stamp for the Status Quo
Independent scientific research and unbiased, transparent opinion plays a critical role in any credible profession. It is the application of the scientific method in the problem-solving process and the endless striving to understand the truth, that separates, say, the practice of modern medicine from alchemy. At the same time, it is easy to find recent…
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Professional Hearing Organizations Release Consensus Recommendations for OTC Hearing Aid Classification
WASHINGTON, DC — It was announced today that all four of the major US professional hearing healthcare organizations have released a consensus paper for the new over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid classification , “Regulatory Recommendations for OTC Hearing Aids: Safety and Effectiveness.” The consensus paper, which outlines five evidence-based recommendations related to the safety and effectiveness,…
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Silicon Valley Engineers Making OTC Hearables Next Big Thing
Over the past three years, Hearing News Watch has published several articles on the rise of so-called hearable devices. Combining features of a conventional hearing aid with those of consumer audio products, it seems the hearable category is about to take a big step forward. Fast Company magazine recently reported that Apple, Google and Amazon…
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