SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Buying hearing aids has just become easier for those experiencing mild hearing loss.
Following the approval of a rule by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, the Biden administration began the rollout this week. Now, patients can stop into their local pharmacy or retailer to buy the technology.
“Anyone needing a hearing aid prior to over-the-counter hearing aids, would go to an audiologist and have their hearing assessed determine what their hearing loss is, and then the audiologist would discuss what hearing aid options are available to them. Over the counter kind of skips that audiology appointment,” Sarah Johnson said.
Sarah Johnson, a pediatric audiologist with the South Dakota School for the Deaf, explained that this move will only be applicable to people over the age of 18 with mild to moderate hearing loss.
“So, there is a substantive subset of population that these would be beneficial for those mild to moderate hearing loss patients,” Johnson said.
The FDA estimates the move will impact 30 million Americans, 10 million of which would be under the age of 60.
Johnson said that those who suspect they might have mild to moderate hearing loss might find themselves having a hard time hearing over loud background noise in public or are asking friends and family to repeat themselves often.
Hearing aids help make things louder for those experiencing hearing loss, Johnson explained. That’s different than a cochlear implant which simulates the inner ear and is used for more severe levels of hearing loss.
The hearing aids can be bought at retailers such as CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy, and Walmart. A quick search of the retailers shows availability to order hearing aids online with the Walmart Supercenter in Sioux Falls having a few pairs in stock as of Tuesday.
At Walmart, the devices can range in price from $199 to $999. That’s due to the technology being used, according to Johnson.
“So, hearing aids that are, you know, don’t cost as much have kind of less technology, versus ones that are more expensive, have more technology, more kind of bells and whistles,” Johnson said. “But yeah, an audiologist is kind of covering all of that to determine which hearing aid is most beneficial for their patients. So now that task has been brought to the consumer or the patient for them to actually determine what they need and what’s beneficial for them.”
According to the FDA, the move to sell hearing aids over the counter could save a person up to $3,000 per pair.
Johnson thinks the move to allow over-the-counter sales of hearing aids will open the door for people to get treatment for hearing loss sooner.
“Research shows that it sometimes takes up to seven to 10 years for patients to actually seek help for their hearing loss,” Johnson said.
But while the patient can go to the store and buy a hearing aid themselves, Johnson still recommends working with an audiologist to determine what will be best for you.
“And so those annual or every other year hearing tests, just to monitor things,” Johnson said. “But any time you start noticing you’re saying ‘what’– Or usually it’s family members, that comment that you’re not hearing as well, because you’re saying what you’re having them repeat themselves– Any of those red flags, you would want to seek out just a baseline hearing test with your local audiologists.”