Posted on 10/18/2022 7:45:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
You’ll likely notice a deluge of ads about hearing aids, which are available for the first time this week without a doctor’s prescription or a consultation with an audiologist. The current rule has been five years in the making after former President Donald Trump signed the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act in August 2017. It’s at least a minor win for deregulation, but controversy abounds over the elimination of professional tuning of the devices.
Hearing Aids Just Amplifiers?
The Bose company, based in Massachusetts, is mainly responsible for the change in the federal government’s policy on this issue. Famous for making speakers and headphones, Bose is ready to exploit its technology and manufacturing capacity to sell these new hearing devices. Campaign cash records show Bose spent generously to support Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA). Was the law changed to profit the few, benefit the many, or both?
Adam Curry, former MTV VJ and current No Agenda Show podcast host, has been an outspoken critic of such direct-to-consumer sales. A longtime user of hearing aids, Curry thinks the new devices will result in a negative experience for many. In an exclusive statement to Liberty Nation, he spoke against the updated regulations and Warren’s involvement. Curry said:
“Elizabeth Warren took big campaign donations from Bose among others to introduce the OTC legislation … She is actually hurting her beloved consumers with this. They get sh—- hearing ‘amplifiers.’ That’s the real change. These Silicon Valley ‘amplifiers’ may now be marketed as ‘hearing aids.’”
Curry concluded with “Words matter.”
The legislation prompting the change was introduced in 2017 by Kennedy in the House and Warren in the Senate, passing without opposition as a rider to an FDA reauthorization act. Why would Americans need a prescription for a contraption that has a microphone and a speaker at its core? Its use is not dangerous or habit-forming.
When such a product is designed and sold to correct or cure a medical problem, it becomes a “medical device” under the law, and the FDA has vast control over it. Ask anyone who needs the most commonly used medical device, eyeglasses, which still require a prescription for purchase in the United States. The issue here concerns amplification devices for people with normal hearing acuity and processing, and hearing aids required for more profound hearing difficulty. The FDA said the rule “applies to certain air-conduction hearing aids intended for people 18 years of age and older who have perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment. Hearing aids that do not meet the requirements for the OTC category (for example, because they are intended for severe hearing impairment or users younger than age 18) are prescription devices.”
Promises Made or Bought?
President Joe Biden spurred his FDA to make a final rule on the topic as part of an executive order issued last year. Curry said the most important thing going forward is to make sure companies’ desire for recurring revenue models doesn’t impose harsh outcomes for users. “What is also important is that ALL companies, including the legit [hearing aid] manufacturers, stop tying everything to their cloud.” He said centralizing any medical device where it is “almost impossible to use … without being tethered to their infrastructure” is a horrible idea.
I wonder how much stock mr. Curry has in medical technology companies. Quite frankly, he can go to hell; his attitude is about as anti-freedom as is possible.
Absolutely. The article is crap and innuendo. Bose did testing with many people, and they loved it.
I am a Vet and was both a MM3 in the Navy AV&R specialist and later I was in the Tennessee Army NG as a 13-B Cannon Infantry reserves for a year in a 155 Howitzer Battery. The Navy back in 1978 had placed me on hearing conservation dur to hearing loss. Thankfully my chief took care of me and placed the ships Medical Officers letter of that fact in my take home folder.
You can be partially deaf and not realize it. Loss can come gradually, and you won't notice it maybe for years. But when people start asking you why you ignored them when they yelled to get your attention maybe an appointment is warranted as was my case. First set I paid for by a company called Audibele and got ripped off. That was about15 years ago I guess. SooI began the long process of getting help from VA. It took way over a year to finally be referred by their doctor to Audiology, be tested, and receive a much better pair. It made a huge difference.
My overall hearing loss is south of 50% ranging from Mild a short portion dropping to Profound in the higher spectrum. The cheapies will not help me but rather do more damage and hear and understand even less.
To put this in simple terms the audiologist can do with hearing aids what OTCs can not. They can customize the settings and equalize the entire spectrum. They can also to a certain extent shunt down background noises. That is why they cost more and require and audiologist. It is to protect you from further damage to your hearing.
Tinnitus is another complication factor in many with hearing loss and I have it bad also. I am at 49% VA Disability rating I just relieved thanks to my son in law who finally talked me into applying. I got it first try one test. P> Tomorrow I will be tested and molds taken for my third VA supplied pair. If your hearing loss is equal in both ears OTCs may work but remember this though they amplify everything including background noises with no filtering. Just me 2 cents worth based on experiences.
I am a Vet and was both a MM3 in the Navy AV&R specialist and later I was in the Tennessee Army NG as a 13-B Cannon Infantry reserves for a year in a 155 Howitzer Battery. The Navy back in 1978 had placed me on hearing conservation dur to hearing loss. Thankfully my chief took care of me and placed the ships Medical Officers letter of that fact in my take home folder.
You can be partially deaf and not realize it. Loss can come gradually, and you won't notice it maybe for years. But when people start asking you why you ignored them when they yelled to get your attention maybe an appointment is warranted as was my case. First set I paid for by a company called Audibele and got ripped off. That was about15 years ago I guess. SooI began the long process of getting help from VA. It took way over a year to finally be referred by their doctor to Audiology, be tested, and receive a much better pair. It made a huge difference.
My overall hearing loss is south of 50% ranging from Mild a short portion dropping to Profound in the higher spectrum. The cheapies will not help me but rather do more damage and hear and understand even less.
To put this in simple terms the audiologist can do with hearing aids what OTCs can not. They can customize the settings and equalize the entire spectrum. They can also to a certain extent shunt down background noises. That is why they cost more and require and audiologist. It is to protect you from further damage to your hearing.
Tinnitus is another complication factor in many with hearing loss and I have it bad also. I am at 49% VA Disability rating I just relieved thanks to my son in law who finally talked me into applying. I got it first try one test. P> Tomorrow I will be tested and molds taken for my third VA supplied pair. If your hearing loss is equal in both ears OTCs may work but remember this though they amplify everything including background noises with no filtering. Just me 2 cents worth based on experiences.
Ha, ha, ... Sorry I meant 3 Khz.
In my case, I am perfectly comfortable with programming and deploying multi band fully parametric EQs. All I want is the ability to set up the sound the way I know it should be. I *know* what my Martin D28 is supposed to sound like, I’ve recorded Steinway B pianos in great studios, and I’ve been using white and pink noise generators and spectrum analyzers for 30 years to set up public address systems.
I’ll give that a try. What brand did you use?
High quality ginko brought my tinnitus under control.
Hi- may I ask how long you were taking it before you noticed improvement?
“When such a product is designed and sold to correct or cure a medical problem, it becomes a “medical device” under the law, and the FDA has vast control over it. Ask anyone who needs the most commonly used medical device, eyeglasses, which still require a prescription for purchase in the United States.”
Yet there are still hundreds of other “medical devices” that don’t require a prescription and the world hasn’t exploded over it.
I tried both cheap and expensive. Only the best worked. It took several weeks to see it work, along with reducing salt and sugar. I took Gingkoba, but it was 30 years ago, so I’m not sure what the best brands are today.
I wish I had a Martin LOL. I do have what they call a Lawsuit Martin a F 400 Takamine 12 string and to Gibson Eipphones which for my limited skills works enough for me just to sit back and pick and relax.
I support this.
Many family members are using OTC options already. My aunt ditched her “prescription” aids a while back and uses earbuds.
Why? She did not have the money to fork over to pay for the prescription hearing aids and a set of good buds work well.
Most drugs should be non prescription. .And are in other countries.
Thanks very much!
I was an ADJ in the Navy and I wore my Mickey Mouse ears. I became an A&P mechanic in the 90s for a corporate jet service and you’d be surprised how many people don’t wear protection. The absolute loudest I’ve ever been around was a Ford Tri-Motor. Birds were dropping out of the trees when they did the run-up. :)
A link to Bose hearing aids:
https://lexiehearing.com/us/lexie-b2-powered-by-bose-hearing-aids?sscid=a1k6_ifhty&utm_source=shareasale&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=314743
Why should you even need a prescription?
Those Takas are nice guitars!
I have pretty nice hearing aids, from an audiology place, but get *frustrated*, I was running PAs with 16 bands, stereo, of fully parametric EQ many years ago. My hearing is screwed up from an ear infection when I was a kid, I’ve always used protection since. Mostly a bass player and percussionist but have a few nice guitars. All I want is the ability to really dial in three or four presets in great detail (many bands of parametric, variable compression, all the goodies I have in the old rack).... This Adam Curry twit needs a good slap upside the head.
For my two years active sea duty in the Navy, I was the listener and talker in the CIC on a small Navy ship.
The CIC was under a 5 inch mount and every shell fired sounded like a 5 inch shell going off in my uncovered right ear. My left ear was covered with live audio from all over the ship. My right ear was uncovered to be able to hear the 2 officers and CPO in the CIC.
Then, I started shooting skeet and trap and only used cotton at first. Then I got some shooting headsets.
After active duty as a civilian, I hunted deer, ducks, geese, wild turkey often without ear protection.
My wife jokes that as I aged, my ears grew bigger and serve as audible scanners to hear what people are saying. When I don’t want to listen to someone, I apparently turn my basically deaf right ear toward them, and my good ear facing away from them.
In the past couple of years, my wife’s hearing in her left ear might be worse than my damaged right ear. Yet in our family room, where she sits on the couch her deaf left ear faces me. She gets my deaf ear in return. We joke about our secret to a long marriage is that reality.
“The CIC was under a 5 inch mount and every shell fired sounded like a 5 inch shell going off in my uncovered right ear. “
My Dad was on a 5” mount in WWII. Deaf as a post in his left ear.
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