ELEHEAR’s David Hogan Talks OTC Hearing Aids and the Future of Consumer Hearing Tech

Welcome to This Week in Hearing. I’m Bob Traynor, your host for this episode, and today my guest is David Hogan, managing director for ELEHEAR, a manufacturer of OTC hearing devices. This particular product received a huge number of awards at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. Welcome, Dave, and thanks for being with us today to talk about this interesting OTC product.

Bob, it’s my pleasure to be part of your show, and I look forward to a good conversation.

Great.

Well, rigorous is always good. One of the first things I like to do with these episodes, Dave, is have you give us an idea of your journey into becoming managing director at ELEHEAR. From what I understand, you have quite a lengthy history in the industry, and I think it’s helpful for all of us, particularly the clinical folks, to know that products are looked at by individuals with a lot of experience before they even get involved with them. Tell us a little about your journey here.

Sure. Currently, I’ve been with ELEHEAR for just over a year, but I’ve been working with the founder for probably five years on different projects. I’ve been in the audio wearable space for over 30 years and have seen different products and devices evolve over time. I’ve worked for GN, and I’ve worked for Bragi, which was one of the first wearable startups. So I have plenty of experience in the audio, hearing, and wearable space. That experience is what made me take notice of ELEHEAR as a company, because what they have done, and what the core essence of the company is, is that they’re a tech company. They are an algorithm and sound processing company at their core DNA. The founder and group of engineers built a company around robust sound processing, and that has evolved into the hearing space. I had worked with him on other audio products and was introduced into the company around the time the OTC mandate came from the FDA regulation change. We thought, what an opportune time to take the technology we’ve used in other devices and build what we believe, and what consumers say, is the number one OTC hearing product out there today.

Great. Well, that’s quite a background, and the thing is, it takes people like yourself to kind of wade through a lot of these things and then present them to us so we can at least have a good start in evaluating new products. You mentioned the ramp-up to OTC products, and in general, OTC has not been as well accepted as I think was anticipated. Do you have some idea why that might have happened?

Well, I think we’ve had some good, bad, and possibly some ugly from many different directions. In any new product category, when you’re given an opportunity to enter a market, I kind of categorize companies in different ways. There are opportunists, and there are people who try to create products and deliver services for the long haul. I think OTC has had its mixed bag in that regard. There have been a lot of low-cost amplifier-type products that didn’t go through the rigorous development needed to provide users with a good solution. I think that was one of the hurdles, but I also think that changes for the better every month. The market is maturing, and it’s forcing the good players to get better and the bad players to leave the game, so to speak. Then we have the traditional prescription hearing aid companies, the big players, of which I’ve worked for one, realizing they need a solution that is more affordable and more accessible for the masses. That has been one of our mandates from the beginning: how do we build a product that we can provide to people of all economic situations and also reach those in geographic situations where they may not have access to a hearing professional? We’ve tried to take the approach that you can still provide a very solid, well-working product at a reasonable price point. If you look at our reviews and our history over the last four years of this evolution, we’ve proved that very well in the marketplace by what customers and clients say about our product.

It’s interesting because I still remember some of the first listening devices—you couldn’t call them hearing aids, they were listening devices—back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. You’d see these big full-page ads, and I remember along with other clinical people wondering who these people were and how all of that happened. What happened was consumer pressure for lower-cost products, and I think that perpetuated many of the things we saw in the ramp-up to OTC products over the years. My wife, Krista Traynor, who is a regulatory affairs audiologist, worked with Mead Killion around the turn of the century to build a product. She handled the FDA submission and all those kinds of things, and it got flat rejected. I think that rejection led to a lot of discussion, a lot of articles, and before long we had this ramp-up to OTC products. In my mind, OTC products were a good way for patients to become familiar with hearing devices. Those are your new customers. They are new patients who are going to come into the clinic, and at least try those devices. If they work, fabulous. If they don’t, then they may move on to prescription products, or wait a little while and then move into one or the other. The idea is that these are the new customers coming in, because my guess is that in clinics, people often ask, “Well, I’ve heard about those cheap ones. Are they any good?” The real answer to that is that for some individuals, they’re a perfect starter-type device for the first year, two, three, or four. After that, you may want another kind of product. And as you say, these OTC products are for the masses.

Right.

I even find myself occasionally wanting to use something, despite having virtually no hearing loss, just to connect with the TV. When I go into the fridge to grab another beverage, I still want to hear what’s happening in the movie or on the news. I understand there’s been a lot of progress in OTC products to provide some of those benefits that used to be more associated with the prescription side. Do you see some of those things moving into OTC products?

Yes, absolutely, Bob. Because the category is so new, but the broader audio category has grown immensely over the last 20 years, the technology used to entertain, listen to music, watch television, and listen in your car has advanced significantly. When we set out to build the best product that would be most acceptable to the masses or to our target audience, streaming and connectivity had to be part of that, so Bluetooth was part of the initial product design. The idea was not only to satisfy hearing needs and requirements, but also to make the device something that allows you to listen to your phone or any type of music source. It allows you to pair it to your television and watch TV in a clearer and more applicable way. The whole idea is to address the hearing problem, but also provide a lifestyle-type product that spans multiple areas of your life. As you know better than I do, when people have hearing loss and don’t look for a solution, they sometimes begin to shy away from certain environments or activities they no longer enjoy. The idea is not only to enhance that one-on-one personal experience, but also to improve the environments you’re around—sporting events, television, movies, and the things we do every day. And that device most of us carry in our hands for hours every day has become the entertainment hub for everyone from 10-year-olds to 80-year-olds. It’s not a small demographic; it’s a very large one. But in most cases, hearing loss is considered a relatively small demographic, so we need to stretch those boundaries. You mentioned earlier that OTC was intended for mild to moderate hearing loss. So the question becomes: how do you help more people at an earlier stage of their hearing journey and give them a roadmap for continued improvement for years to come? I think one of the most powerful messages that gets lost in all of this is that someone may go to a clinic and not have trouble in general conversations, but there may still be certain aspects of life that aren’t as clear as they should be. They may be on the road to needing some enhancement. There are a lot of ways that a product like ours, and frankly some of our reputable competitors’ products, fits the needs of people very successfully. Even though OTC was always intended as an entry gate, we have many users who have gone from prescription models to our products because they wanted a more cost-effective solution and because our products are very appropriate for their level of hearing loss. So we have both: new entrants and people who have been wearing hearing aids for years who have embraced the ELEHEAR line.

That’s an interesting concept because people always think of OTCs as a starter device, not necessarily something people would return to for their second or third set. But if you have mild to moderate hearing loss and it isn’t going to progress further, it makes sense as wise financial management to consider something that performs well but costs less than prescription products. What kinds of products does ELEHEAR offer? Are they in-the-ear devices, CICs, behind-the-ear models? What kinds of things are there for us to look at?

Up until very recently, our products were designed as RIC-style models, like most people’s idea of a conventional hearing aid. There is a practical reason for the design of any product, but with hearing devices, people want to wear them all day. So the comfort level has to be high enough that they forget they have them on, while still delivering the performance they’re looking for. That has always limited certain wearing styles. Having spent as many years as I have in the audio business, if you looked at consumer products alone, 50% of the population would never choose to wear something in their ear. They want something on their ear or over their ear for listening or entertainment. With hearing, you don’t have that luxury, because the product needs to reside in or around the ear to perform technically. Sometimes adoption is limited not only by the physical act of wearing a device, but also by concern over whether it will be comfortable. We’ve done a great job designing products that are comfortable, wearable on a daily basis, and have battery life that in most cases lasts all day. The device itself also has multiple charges built into it, so even if you have to recharge, you can still be on the go and aren’t tied to a wall outlet.

Recently, though, we introduced our latest product at CES, which has more of an earbud-style look. It’s more of a consumer product-looking device but still has the same robust solutions as our other products. From a cosmetic point of view, it’s very small, very comfortable, and much less obtrusive than conventional hearing aids. We went down that route for multiple reasons. As the technology has improved and allowed people to do more active things, the product has to be able to handle those activities—sweat, outdoor activity, rain. So water resistance and sweat resistance become important. People want to work out, they want to know the product will stay stable in their ear, and they want to golf, play pickleball, and stay active. Exercise has become part of everyone’s life. So we thought, why not have a product that could deliver those experiences? In some cases, people who like the RIC model may buy this newer product as an alternative for certain activities. Probably the biggest opportunity we saw was the wider demographic of people who are struggling. We’re all a little vain about what we wear and how we look, so the idea was whether we could address a younger demographic with products that they’re more used to seeing on people. Now we have a fairly robust lineup of both traditional-style and in-ear-style products. The new product has been on pre-sale for the last month, and it’s already proving itself to be one of our bestsellers. We attribute that to the wearing style.

As much as we know stigma is still there, it seems less of an issue with younger people because they’re used to seeing all these things in their ears. There are even manufacturers making black hearing aids with silver accents so they look like high-tech devices. My guess is these products will be more acceptable to younger people as well.

I think so, and I would agree. We also have a group of people in our ecosystem we call our ambassadors. These are people who either test early-release products or have been part of the ELEHEAR journey for some time, and they give us critical feedback on all areas. One thing we hear a lot is that the use of these products, ours in particular, has opened up so many aspects of their life in a more positive way. They communicate better with family members and enjoy certain activities more. Some of these people are new to hearing aids, and some have been using other products for years. The point is that stigma goes away when they become more socially involved with the people they care about, whether family, friends, or business associates. When they can communicate better, and when others can communicate better with them, stigma starts to fade because they’re engaged, and they’re engaged on a daily basis. That’s what these products are supposed to do.

You’ve actually articulated an old Siemens bumper sticker from early in my career that said, “Your hearing loss is more conspicuous than a hearing aid.” That idea goes back years and years. Culture has changed substantially. For a long time, I used to go to Safeway to buy reading glasses, because that’s all I needed. And that must be what many of our patients experience when they discover OTC products. Not that there isn’t a fabulous place for our colleagues who see patients every day in audiology clinics—they will often be using prescription instruments—but I hope they’ve begun to look at OTC products as the beginning of a journey. For some people, as you say, they could be the mainstay product throughout their hearing journey. So what kinds of awards did you obtain at the Consumer Electronics Show?

We won a variety of “best in show” recognitions from different publications and industry sources. We can provide those in the follow-up as well. But we don’t go into a show intending to win awards, even though that’s a great accolade for our accomplishments. What we really set out to do is tell our story and show the media and consumers why our product is a good alternative for their situation. Awards help validate that. But we place a lot of value on feedback from industry professionals like yourself and from people who are working in the trenches every day. When they give an award or an accolade, those are the important ones, because they drive consumer behavior. They are trusted sources. They work with a variety of products and can recommend a variety of solutions. If you end up in one of their “best of” categories, then the brand and the product have been validated in a much more reliable way. The press is great, and we want that, but we also want real-life users to accept the products and say, “Wow, these really helped my journey and ultimately my life.”

There are a couple of things that some companies have and some don’t in the OTC market. Do you have a return policy that kind of aligns with regular products?

Yes, we have a 45-day trial period and return process because, as you know, it takes time for people to adapt to a product, especially if it’s their first one. Through the purchase process, we also have an app that takes users through the testing process. Then they have the ability to make an appointment with one of our staff audiologists to help customize the product based on their situation. What we’ve tried to do as a company is focus on customer care, because keeping the product in the person’s ears, as we like to say, is the real proof of success. In OTC and traditional hearing aids, return rates can sometimes be very high. In our case as a brand, we are a little under 10%, which is very good. We attribute that to the care we give our customers. We want them to succeed.

Forever, it has always been the rehabilitative component that seems pretty correlated with success. Whether it’s direct-to-consumer support, remote support, or audiology clinic support, that element is essential in almost all of these situations. It’s pretty rare that somebody just goes on the internet, buys a hearing aid, and lives happily ever after. So that is a step in the right direction, and probably wise financial management as well for manufacturers. So the in-the-ear version—is it a full shell, a CIC, or maybe even an IIC?

It’s probably best categorized as an IIC. It’s not totally hidden, but it goes deeply into the canal.

So just a little beyond that level.

Yeah.

Okay, good. It’s always good when the pre-market activity is going well. When people actually get the devices, you support them, and they perform as well as the RICs you’ve been finding success with, then maybe we’ll have another talk and see how all of that is going sometime.

Well, the good and bad of technology is that it changes every day. I’ve used that phrase for many years: the good thing about our industry is that it changes every day, and the bad thing about our industry is that it changes every day. We introduced our second product over three and a half years ago with AI, and we were the only ones doing that at the time. A lot of others have followed, but if you remember how we started, our core DNA is in processing. We didn’t necessarily set out to be a hearing aid company. We set out to be the best in sound-processing algorithms, and that evolved into these devices. What we realized relatively quickly over the last four years is that people not only need these products, but they like them. The market, fortunately or unfortunately, is not getting any smaller. We have an aging population all over the world, and our everyday lifestyles—wearing headphones, working in loud environments, spending careers in factories—add to hearing problems. So having good solutions that are accessible to everyone at an affordable price is very important to our mission. I think it’s also important for your listeners to recognize that there is a place for these products. People may want to fight it, but there is a place for it, and consumers have validated that.

We’ve all seen manufacturers—not just in hearing instruments, but in other categories as well—get a big bundle of venture capital, go out and blow it all, and then disappear, whether it’s in OTC hearing, tinnitus treatments, or anything else. It happens in many industries. But when a company takes it a little more slowly and builds step by step, I think that increases the possibility they’ll be around for a while rather than just being a flash in the pan.

We could probably both name a lot of companies that had two or three strong years and then went away. That’s not our intent. We’re a small company, but we grow every month. We have a lot of aggressive plans, so the future is bright.

Great. Well, it’s been delightful to have this discussion, and also the couple of others we’ve had prior to today. I hope we can get together again and discuss product success and maybe some of the innovations happening in the industry, as well as with ELEHEAR.

Oh, I’d welcome the opportunity, because we have some very interesting things ahead and some things not too far off that we’d love to talk about another time.

Well, thanks so much for being with us today, Dave, and thanks as well to all of you who have tuned in to This Week in Hearing. Please keep This Week in Hearing on your radar screen for possibly more to come on OTC products and ELEHEAR in particular. Thanks again, Dave, for being with us, and we hope to see you soon.

My pleasure, Bob. Thank you for having me.