![\"man](\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/counter.jpg\" "\\"over")
<\/p>\nEggs. Milk. Bread. Hearing aids. This could be the shopping list for people in Tucson with hearing loss next year, when over-the-counter hearing aids will become available. If the ability to buy hearing aids without visiting an audiologist seems like a good thing, there are sure to be some downsides.<\/p>\n
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The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017<\/a> was the brainchild of Massachusetts Senator and current presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. Her intentions were noble: to make hearing aids more affordable and readily available. To meet the criteria, hearing aids must be able to do the following:<\/p>\n Once the legislation passed, it was sent to the Food and Drug Administration<\/a>, who were given the task of establishing guidelines to determine how to ensure the law works as intended. The FDA is set to release those rules and regulations soon\u2014possibly as early as January\u2014paving the way for widespread availability of OTC hearing aids beginning sometime in the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n There are both advantages and disadvantages of buying hearing aids over-the-counter. Your Tucson audiologist has compiled a list of both.<\/p>\n Over-the-counter hearing aids<\/a> will give patients control over their own hearing health. They won\u2019t have to see an audiologist<\/strong> and submit to a hearing exam in order to purchase hearing aids. Costs should be substantially lower<\/strong>; patients won\u2019t have to worry about insurance reimbursements\u2014an obstacle for many currently, as few health plans cover the costs of hearing aids and other hearing health care, Medicare included. <\/p>\n Personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) are already available for retail sale; they are for all intents and purposes hearing aids, though they cannot be marketed as such. So long as they meet the FDA\u2019s new guidelines, they are likely to be sold as hearing aids beginning next year.<\/p>\n OTC hearing aids will be sold with factory presets, but a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn\u2019t work in this case<\/strong>. Hearing loss varies considerably from person to person; this is why the fitting process, which involves your audiologist fine-tuning your hearing aids<\/a> so they will meet the specific demands of your hearing impairment, is such an important step. <\/p>\n Additionally, these devices are designed primarily for patients with mild hearing loss<\/strong>. A good analogy is reading glasses: these are perfectly fine if you only have trouble reading tiny print, but if you have a more severe vision impairment, you\u2019ll need to visit an optometrist for prescription lenses. Without a through hearing examination from a professional audiologist in Tucson, you won\u2019t know the degree of your hearing loss and might end up wasting money on hearing aids that aren\u2019t sufficient for your needs. <\/p>\n And without that exam, you might be overlooking a potentially serious medical condition<\/strong> that is causing your hearing loss, one that could lead to more serious side effects if left untreated.<\/p>\n While over-the-counter hearing aids will no doubt offer benefit to some patients, it\u2019s crucial that you schedule an appointment with a Tucson audiologist<\/a> before making a purchase.<\/p>\n Eggs. Milk. Bread. Hearing aids. This could be the shopping list for people in Tucson with hearing loss next year, when over-the-counter hearing aids will become available. If the ability to buy hearing aids without visiting an audiologist seems like a good thing, there are sure to be some downsides. Why Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Aids May…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"38","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"520-399-7630 | If the ability to buy hearing aids without visiting an audiologist seems like a good thing, there are sure to be some downsides.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7589,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions\/7589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
The Good<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Bad<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Hear the whole picture. Schedule audiology testing today.<\/h3>\n
Learn More About Hearing Aids<\/h3>\n
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