Posted on 06/13/2017 5:02:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
I'm technically disabled -- but not mentally disabled the way some of my foes on CNN seem to believe I am. No, my disability is hearing loss. In one ear I'm nearly deaf.
I have to turn the TV up so loud the neighbors say they can hear it from their house next door. My friends complain that watching TV with me is like watching Garrett Morris on "Saturday Night Live" shout into the camera to provide news for the hard of hearing.
There are some 30 million Americans like me suffering from severe to moderate hearing loss. Not being able to hear precisely what people are saying is an occupational handicap, for sure.
I also lose my prescription hearing aid at least three or four times a year. These little gizmos are expensive, costing as much as $3,000 (I can't get insurance anymore because of my pre-existing condition of carelessness), and so having access to cheaper over-the-counter hearing devices is an attractive option.
Granted, the non-prescription aids don't work as well, but in a pinch they sure work a lot better than no hearing aid at all. Some of the devices at Walmart are so cheap that they are practically disposable.
Congress will soon vote on a bill called the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act that would allow much easier access to over-the-counter hearing aids. And get this: The bill is bipartisan, sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.). (This may be the first and last time I've ever been on the side of Elizabeth Warren!)
Here's why this bill is important to the health and well-being of millions of Americans like me. According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's report "Hearing Health Care for Adults," more than two-thirds of the 30 million people in the U.S. with hearing loss may benefit from hearing aids but do not use them.
Why don't they? Because they're too expensive. A 2014 report by the Consumer Technology Association finds that the high price for prescription aids is a major barrier to consumers. Prescription hearing aids typically cost $1,000 to $6,000, or about 10 times the cost of OTC aids.
Current law prohibits over-the-counter personal sound amplification performance systems (PSAPs) from making any claim to treat hearing loss. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates hearing aids, places prohibitions on advertising for these cheaper devices, claiming they don't significantly improve hearing. I can personally attest that PSAPs do help, especially when standing in a crowded room with a lot of ambient noise or talking on the phone.
Under the new law PSAPS could be marketed and sold as a more affordable hearing aid alternative to people with hearing loss. The highest quality prescription hearing aids that are personalized and fitted for each patient and superior in quality would still be available and regulated by the FDA.
This would seem to be a no-brainer. It would drive down prices for all hearing devices by increasing choice and competition. The opponents to the bill are the doctors and the manufacturers of the expensive aids. They are against competition -- of course. It's the same sort of rent-seeking lobbying that taxicab companies use to keep Uber out of cities.
What we have here is a classic case of regulation promoted by the regulated industry in order to keep prices high and keep out cheaper alternatives -- all under the phony guise of "consumer protection."
We now have over-the-counter reading glasses, over-the-counter painkillers and over-the-counter flu medicines. These options don't prevent people from getting prescriptions for heavier drug dosages or more personalized contacts and eyeglasses.
One worry is that this new law will give the FDA additional powers to regulate over-the-counter devices. Conservatives should be arguing that there is no compelling reason for the FDA to be regulating this industry at all. You're not going to die if you get snookered and buy a bad hearing aid.
This should be the first step in a pro-consumer crusade to severely limit FDA regulations on the sale of scores of medical devices and drugs when there is no issue of endangerment. Why does the FDA have to regulate hearing aids, dental and skin care products, Viagra, wheelchairs and so on?
Everyone in Washington, from both parties, keeps saying that they are for "affordable care." Here's one way they can make that a reality for tens of millions of Americans. Is anyone listening?
It’s a micrphone, speaker, amplifier and battery. Once upon a time it was an impressive bit of technology to fit it in your ear canal, but not anymore. There is no reason why it should cost thousands of dollars.
Sure there are (reasons). Lobbyists have Millions of reasons...
I agree.
In all seriousness, “presbyaccusis” is age related hearing loss. “Presbyopia” is age related loss of near vision due to hardening of the lense (or more specifically lose of compliance). No reason these cheap amplifiers couldn’t be sold at WalMart right next to the cheap reading glasses. Except, of course, the protection on the monopoly the industry enjoys.
Bingo.
I’ve got some expensive ones ($5000 out of pocket since Ins doesn’t cover hearing loss help) but there are cheap OTC ones available. I have some.
I’ve pondered how hearing loss is made fun of without any thought to offending anyone. It’s just another form of racism, but is socially acceptable.
I know people who use CPAPs. They have to have a prescription for those. But the machine is little more than an air pump.
It is also not legal to sell them used. So follow that money trail.
This is exactly right.
While I don't particularly like paying through the nose for these things - and then paying again for the inevitable repairs - there is more to a modern programmable hearing aid.
Based on those frequencies where my hearing is deficient, the aids are programmed to amplify only those frequencies and only as much as necessary to match hearing of the other frequencies.
This is MUCH better than applying the same amplification across the board which ends up over-amplifying many sounds, resulting in an overall sucky experience.
Huh?
hmmmmmm, I think they get to pocket Millions of reasons.
My opthalmologist tells me to just keep using the dollar general glasses.
I’m too stubborn and cheap to buy hearing aids, but would sure consider the OTC option for that too.
The VA provides my AIDS now (30% disability, they even send me a check every month [well, not send - deposit]).
However for my almost entire carer I had to put up with extreme hearing loss.
What bugs me is that the audiologist can never really get it set right. It would be much better if I could adjust the volume, bass and treble myself much as on a car radio. From, say, my smart phone...
The other gripe I have is that sometimes after 50 years of not hearing the high frequencies, I’m not interested in hearing them. Just turn the volume up for God’s sake.
ARE THERE ANY FREEPERS WITH EXPERIENCE WITH CHEAP HEARING AIDS ?
Let's get THAT conversation rolling ...
I have tinnitus AND bad hearing.
Great information. I would recommend that anyone with tinnitus, ringing and vertigo check with an ENT physician. Mine probably saved my life. After I suggested I needed the “Eppley maneuver - he said; ‘no, you are to have an MRI of your skull. Good decision.
I also have hearing aids, which I don’t always wear because when you talk to yourself, you know what you are saying;) tee hee!!!
see my post #16
You can buy a DSP (digital signal processor) in a tiny, embeddable form-factor for quite cheap.
I don’t understand the outrageous costs for something like this.
http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/processors/dsp/c5000_dsp/c55x/overview.page
My husband wasted $3,000 many years ago on a hearing aid and then another $500 on another one about 15 years after he bought the first one, because he stopped wearing them. I am tired of having to yell at him and keep tell him to wear his f******g hearing aid
Bluetooth.
There is probably a great fear among audiologists that people could be fitted for an ear-piece and then completely tune in the generic component with their smart phones.
On a slightly different topic...live-music pro-audio, the sound-man used to need miles of cable, racks of gear, and a giant remote soundboard, and an onstage monitor board, and some monkeys to help him set it all up. Now, most of that has largely been eliminated.
He needs an onstage “box” to which he connects all the mic and signal inputs, as well as all the outputs to the amplifiers. Then he can walk around the crowd area using his “tablet” with a free software app that can control the whole show. The screen has several views of mixing boards, EQs, cross-overs, monitor boards...everything needed...all virtually wireless.
There could be a “smartphone app” that allows the “patient” to dial-in their own tiny high-tech hearing aid. Since it’s their own hearing, and no one else can hear exactly what they do, once trained they can probably do a better job than the audiologist.
(It has probably already happened)
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