Busted Cartel: Super Cheap Hearing Aids Are Coming Soon
For over 40 years, the FDA has regulated the hearing aid industry. The story is here.
A mutually agreeable arrangement developed between the FDA and the hearing aid industry. The government required that an M.D. or a certified audiologist must perform the hearing tests in order for the public to buy a hearing aid.
Throughout this period, competing technologies existed. The competing technologies were able to increase the sound hitting the eardrums. These were sound amplifiers. But the companies that sold them were not allowed to use the words "hearing aid." Without open entry into the market based on these two words, prices of hearing aids remained high. Even today, there are companies that are still charging $5,000 for a pair of hearing aids. That day is about to end.
In August 2017, the government passed a new law. The term "hearing aid" would no longer be a monopoly of the FDA-licensed companies that sell them. Prior to this law, it was illegal to call an insert that amplified sound a hearing aid. It no longer is.
One government agency (not the FDA), has released a document explaining this. Here is an extract from the document on over the counter (OTC) hearing aids.
Why are OTC hearing aids becoming available now?Hearing loss significantly affects quality of life for tens of millions of adults in the United States and contributes to high health care costs. Untreated hearing loss can lead to isolation, and it has been associated with serious conditions such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, dementia, reduced mobility, and falls. Yet only one in four adults who could benefit from hearing aids has ever used them. Making hearing health care more accessible and affordable is a public health priority, especially as the number of older adults in the U.S. continues to grow.
Leading experts in science, technology, and hearing health care have been working with researchers, health professionals, and consumers to find safe and effective ways to improve access to hearing health care for adults. They suggested changing some regulations that studies showed were barriers to adults getting the hearing help they need. They also recommended that the FDA create guidelines and quality standards for OTC hearing aids.
This is the day of reckoning for the hearing aid cartel.
The official deadline for the industry's use of the words "hearing aid" is August 18, 2020. At that point, the FDA is required by law to issue new regulations. But, I am happy to announce, at least one company has jumped the gun. It is now advertising its hearing aid as a hearing aid. The ad is here. The price is $149 per insert.
The reason that I have included the link to the ad is so that you can see that the seller repeatedly uses the words "hearing aid." The seller may have jumped the gun from a legal point of view, but the gun is going to go off no later than August 18.
Within a few months, people will be able to buy hearing aids for $150 a pair. Price competition will soon take over.
The days of wine and roses are about to end for the hearing aid cartel.
Existing firms will try to sell old people on paying pre-2020 prices to get nebulous benefits that buyers supposedly get from having a licensed audiologist give them a hearing test. It won't work. The oldsters will not pay these prices.
The existing industry is already dead in the water. All across America, millions of old people are locked down. They are not going out to get their hearing checked. Also, the nation is in a recession. The market for $5,000 hearing aids is going to shrink faster than the companies that have benefited from the FDA licensing imagine. My guess is this: the market has already disappeared. It is never coming back. Audiologists will have to find new careers. Soon.
If you want to check your hearing, I recommend this site: https://hearingtest.online. It tests hearing loss at various frequencies, and you test both ears. You need a pair of headphones to maximize the accuracy.