I'm with Senator Warren on this. It's an outrage that insurance will cover prescription lenses but not hearing aids.
At the age of 27, I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Otosclerosis. It affected one ear initially and years later, the second ear. My insurance only covered the audiological exam and surgery which was not an option at the time as my hearing loss was not considered 'profound', only severe.
Fortunately, I was living in AZ and qualified for a State Rehabilitative program because I wear corrective lenses AND suffer from hearing loss. Under ADA I'm considered disabled. The program (income qualifying,) paid 100% of the cost of my hearing aid. My only out of pocket was the office visit.
I'm not sure how I would have coped without the assistance of a hearing device. It's the same as having poor vision and no prescription lenses. It can cause stress, social isolation, and lead to depression, among other things. Accomplishing normal everyday things is a great burden to bear.
Hearing aids are not elective, they are a lifeline.
21
As a physician with hearing aids, I certainly support lowering the cost of hearing aids. However there can be many potential causes of hearing loss from just the buildup of wax to more serious causes such as occupational noise damage, medication related hearing loss or certain tumors. Before going out and buying hearing aids I would certainly recommend an ENT and audiology evaluation to understand the cause of hearing loss. It may be simple loss from aging or wax buildup to something more serious. Once evaluated , the consumer can make an intelligent choice in hearing aids.
14
@Ken Olshansky that's a good suggestion. However, given how our wealth care system works people aren't always able to afford seeing an ENT and getting an evaluation.
7
While in general I agree with the authors points I have a concern regarding the strong possibility of fraud once insurance is involved. Don’t get me wrong I believe insurance should pay but I believe OTC hearing aids will lead to an incredible amount of scams. Perhaps the foremost resistance is more about the expense and not vanity.
No lay person can know if the hearing loss is due to conductive or nerve damage or even the extent. I agree there should not be a requirement to see a Doctor (ENT) but a audiology exam should be required and paid for by insurance along with the hearing aids. I fear people will by hearing aids not sufficient to their hearing loss and just let them sit in their draw, not because of vanity but the mistaken belief that they just aren’t any good.
2
As long as we're asking why Medicare doesn't cover hearing aids, why don't we also ask why it doesn't cover glasses?
My last pair cost over $600, and that's with inexpensive frames. Without them, I can't drive, can't read street signs, can't see much more than a blur beyond a couple of feet.
Fortunately, I can afford them -- but many can't. How can we fail to provide such an inexpensive (and yet so impactful) treatment -- in the scale of medical expenses -- to all?
12
A set of the current state of the art hearing aids really did help, my doc even called them "reading glasses for the ears". I now notice how many folks can't hear....I used to be one of them. I can now navigate that loud eatery, and get all the lines in a play. Well worth it, even at $6k all in, partly paid by insurance. The largest barrier for greater use is the price....many folks I've spoken to say they could benefit as well, but like dentistry, the insurance company thinks it is cosmetic, when its not. I'm just very appreciate of the fact I can afford this life assisting technology....
5
I'm surprised -- actually disappointed -- that big tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Sony, Samsung, etc., haven't developed hearing aids that are tech breakthroughs like their iconic products.
If there's anything that might benefit from "move fast, break things" it's got to be hearing aids.
I suspect the real market easily exceeds the 25 million suggested in the article. Millions of folks may not notice hearing loss or like so many other health issues that are more irritating than life-threatening, there's widespread denial about hearing loss or that it's so gradual people easily accommodate the loss by compensating with ear buds or the volume control.
An Iphone is an incredibly complex device that mass marketed costs under $1,000. You can't convince me tech giants can't build a better mousetrap and price it like a smartphone.
145
@Yuri Asian
Me too. My iphone does almost everything - with sound.
Have these electronics engineering experimented in developing hearing systems? I am baffled that these companies have not entered the hearing aid market.
16
My children both have profound hearing loss in both ears and wear hearing aids. We pay $4k to $5k per pair, per child every 2 years because the technology advances. A few times we have had to stretch out the time between new pairs because we just couldn’t afford them. They are not covered by our insurance because they aren’t considered “medically necessary “ yet my children cannot function with out them. Someone please explain that to me.
259
@KMM
I feel for you and understand you. My child also wears hearing aids and when I found out that my otherwise healthy & bright child needed hearing aids I was astounded to discover that, yes, Virigina....hearing aids are not considered "medically necessary" and I'm a physician.
The young, the elderly and the in-between all need to be able to see and hear and insurance should cover some of this. You can have bariatric surgery covered, sex change surgeries covered and rhinoplasty.....but not hearing aids??
Contraception is covered and Viagra but not hearing aids?
I am grateful that we can provide them but they are expensive and everyone should be able to see and hear. So, yes, I will vote for candidates who understand this and demonstrate decency in their lives.
PS. Dear Columnist, Thank you for writing this column. I don't agree with every word of it but I so appreciate your efforts!
148
@A doctor in the Americas
Not everyone is able to see and hear perfectly. That has so many implications for learning, especially for poor kids. How can anyone hope to close "achievement gaps" when an unknown number of children cannot see words clearly or/and disambiguate teachers' speech?
13
@KMM
I was pleased and shocked that the UAW sponsors in its medical, both glasses and hearing aids. Both can be obtained every two years either free or with a small amount of money. I am totally grateful that my deceased husband worked for Chrysler. The UAW (a union) is great for its employees and their retirees.
19
It's even worse than you report, Jennifer. Private insurance typically doesn't cover hearing aids for children, despite tons of evidence that hearing loss affects how a child's brain develops. As for how the aids look, "hip" (or, at least, "hipper") aids do exist in the children's market. My kid has had pink, orange, swirly, glittery -- you name it -- ear molds. The aid itself (the behind-the-ear variety, which is preferred for children because their ears grow so fast) also comes in a variety of colors.
Kids don't seem to find hearing aids as embarrassing as adults. My kid loves when someone comments on her aid. It gives her an excuse to brag on herself for enduring and recovering from major surgery at a young age. Adults just need to get over themselves. Everyone knows hearing loss happens as we age. It's not like it's a secret. What's more embarrassing, wearing a hearing aid or constantly saying "huh?" or not reacting at all when people speak to you. I would think the latter.
5
A very interesting article as I hadn’t heard about these welcome changes. That said, I balked at the line toward the end of the article, “ A president who might make our lives better, instead of worse?”. I fully grasp the sentiment, and agree in principle, but it also, lamentably in my opinion, continues in the modern theme of viewing the presidency as some super power, National Mommy who is there to take care of us and “make our lives better”. They head one branch of government, and are constitutionally tasked with certain federal tasks, not warning us about storms (imagined or otherwise), hosting football players, telling us how to eat, and so on. That’s it.
1
I must have a real blind spot, or a deaf spot. I can't even imagine, in my furthest imaginings, how a hearing aid might be stigmatizing for a person. I'm looking forward to getting one after the New Year. It will keep me from having to inch forward little by little upon my clients, giving them an ominous feeling.
2
I am the person who approached Senator Warren about hearing aids. I felt people were looking at the sale of hearing aids as a health or ADA issue rather than a monopoly problem. Senator Warren was speaking at an event about the credit card monopoly and the CFPB. During the Q&A, I asked her how to break the hearing aid monopoly? As a result of our conversation and information I sent her, she introduced the Hearing Aid OTC bill with Senator Grassley, which President Trump signed. Hearing aids, except for those with a severe hearing loss, will be sold over the counter once the FDA establishes the necessary regulations.
However, people still have no idea what they are purchasing. We need the FDA to test all hearing aids and PSAPS. See my testimony before the FDA: http://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20171115155057/https://www.fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/UCM500626.pdf
Consumers have the right to know what they are purchasing since the price of hearing aids is more like $8,000, and no one discusses the back-up pair.
Janice Schacter Lintz, CEO/Founder Hearing Access & Innovations
5
I think of my hearing aids as super fancy ear buds. Ear buds are cool.
2
Spouse got $5K hearing aids, finally - very helpful for household harmony as well as hearing and participating.
What tipped the balance was the audiologist explaining that diminished hearing is tied to cognitive decline - that it's a use-it-or-lose-it proposition.
The new hearing aid law may well have a more profound impact than first appears.
7
I recently attended a function with three friends in my age group (75 - 85). Four were hard of hearing and only one wears a hearing aid. The other three, who are women of means, refuse to believe they need to address their hearing losses and continually say "What? what? what?" It's tough to have much of a conversation with them. I've asked why they don't look into getting a hearing aid and they insist they don't need one. Go figure. The first time I found myself saying "what?" more than once, I hied myself to an audiologist and discovered I am well above the hearing loss level but need to keep the wax out of my ears. I just don't get why everyone will wear reading glasses but won't wear hearing aids. Of course, I get my reading glasses at the 99cent store. Maybe when there are pretty hearing aids at the dollar store, we'll have fewer people saying "what?" and more one with whom one can hold a conversation!
3
I love Ms. Boylan's idea of Spock-ear or decorative hearing aids. Although hearing aids for moderate to severe hearing loss needs to be prescribed by an audiologist, hearing aids should be available to everyone who needs them. They are essential to quality of life and research has proven that hearing affects emotional well-being. It also impacts retention of intellectual acuity in older people.
B.Stanton, M.A., CCC-SLP
3
I have two fine, almost invisible hearing aids, thankfully covered by Medicaid. They are custom-adjusted for the hearing loss I have. They let in regular sound, around a tube going into my ear that has the missing frequencies amplified. It works great. I can hear birds and breezes again.
The cheapest ones amplify Everything - good luck washing dishes while wearing them - as soon as one hits another it is loud as a stack of them falling to a hard floor. I returned them.
My hearing aid expert said single people almost Never get hearing aids - it has to be a couple, because one of them has been saying "What?" all day long and the other finally demands they have their hearing checked.
My favorite illustration: A man walks into the kitchen, where his wife, facing away, is washing dishes. "What's for dinner, honey?" No answer. "What's for dinner, honey?" No answer. After a third time, he says, "Is something wrong with your hearing? I asked you what's for dinner!" She turns and says, "I've told you three times - chicken!"
5
My dog just chewed up one of my $2500 hearing aids! The shell on my previous aid cracked open like an egg. It had been repaired twice. Now I'm back to my first set of aids that still work but have feedback issues and are uncomfortable. For too long the audiologists in the USA have maintained a lock on the market and have kept prices high. At least Costco came along and punched a hole in their monopoly and hopefully the implementation of the the OTC Act will help even more. But in the meantime, I don't hear well and can't decide if I should hold out until next year or spend $ on a replacement. Frustrating.
1
Many people don't realize what a terrible handicap it can be to simply be "hard of hearing." I have had several loved ones with this problem. They miss lots of things that are said by others around them. Sometimes they look unintelligent, or foolish, because they don't understand what is happening. They don't know things, that others assume they know, so misunderstandings occur. It is very frustrating for everyone, and can lead to depression and isolation. Sometimes, you can't even watch tv.
3
Hearing aids aren't covered by European insurances either.
3
Hmm... while the author is talking about the stigma of hearing aids she's also characterizing older women as "little old ladies". She may be speaking in the voice of other people who may use this expression but nonetheless, it would be best to retire it and not recycle it in the pages of the NY Times.
18
@David Rosen You are missing the point. Read: "Cool glasses? You’re Elton John. Hearing aids? You’re a little old lady." Try substituting "elderly woman" for "little old lady" and you'll see it can't possibly work.
7
The prevalence of ear buds has certainly helped remove some of the stigma. The technology has too -- I get phone calls, listen to podcasts, music, etc without a dangling white cord. But the real cool comes from hearing every word. Man, that is a game changer! And way cooler than hearing every fifth word.
2
I have had a significant hearing loss for at least 25 years.
I finally was able to do something about it 2 years ago. Cost? $5,000. My health insurance paid $1,000 and my audiologist said by insurance standards, that was "good."
Stylish? I had my choice of colors. No one every knows I have them in, even when I pull my hair back. (I chose the color closest to my hair color). I love the bluetooth capability.
I LOVE not having to pretend I hear what is saying to me,or saying "WHAT?" 8 billion times a day.
My late Mom's hearing was worse than mine. Despite good coverage and a documented severe hearing loss, she never was able to get hearing aids.
This and dental coverage (lack thereof) is a great failing of our system (there are a dozen others, but I am keeping it to this).
I was one of the lucky ones. My "unusual" genetic hearing loss is remedied by these sweet little babies.
2
I've wondered why there are no attractive, cool, small hearing horns offered....stylish, of plastic like a beautiful (faux) tortoise shell, or kalidescope of colors and patterns, or matching one's eyewear, or having 'affinity' or other images (think pet-genres, teams, sky, landscape, or simply non-descriptive, etc.) Worn on a lanyard in situations, or even softly flexible so it curls in a pocket, pocketbook, or purse. Hire some celebrities to make it cool. It is used only when it needs to be, as in a conversation in a noisy environment or to hear announcements, lecture, etc.. Signifies a person who is in the know, "I hear ya'!" the jingo.
2
There needs to be another discussion about protecting the public's hearing. Yes, we do lose some of our hearing as we age but in America all we really need to do is walk into almost any mall, or restaurant, or store, or even someone's home and we can lose our hearing or a bit of it. Blasting the music non-stop and subjecting employees, neighbors, and shoppers to it whenever they are around ought to be a violation of the common peace and heavily fined. The same goes for some of the outdoor work that's done: mowing the lawn, using a weed whacker, leaf blowing.
I don't want to lose my hearing before I have to but the ever increasing levels of noise in America might just do it. The insult is that I have to pay to hear what I ought to be able to hear if deafening noise wasn't the norm.
6
Thank you so much for this article. It was so informative and, well, uplifting. I've been hesitating to get hearing aids because of the stigma, the cost and the necessity of an examination. I just didn't want to go through that. This is a real breakthrough for so many people.
I was in Senator Warren's corner anyway, but now I'm going to pull up a chair in that corner. What a woman!
Step one- make them affordable and covered by insurance.
5
Not being able to hear is a profound disability affecting every aspect of life. Hearing loss pretty much renders an individual invisible. It can also make you unemployable. A poor dinner guest, an isolated older person, and it goes on and on.
A couple of years ago the Times published an informative piece on hearing aids that among other things informed readers that Costco was the way to go. I recently availed myself of Costco's free hearing test and found out I was missing out on a shocking amount of sound, like the upper third, I could not hear the upper spectrum. Who knew shopping cart wheels filled the air at Costco.
2
1. Bernie Sanders Medicare For All plan does cover hearing aids, glasses, and dental care. 2. Costco sells hearing aids in the $1,500-$2,000 range. The columnist would do well to mention these two relevant facts,
5
In late December of the year 2017, I purchased Bose Hearphones at Best Buy for $500 and put aside my costly Siemens hearing aids. I have not looked back.
In fact, because I work as an expert witness, I purchased a second set as backup, in case the first pair runs out of gas during a long deposition or a tedious day in court.
4
I bought my first set of hearing aids 9 years ago and treat them like their made out of gold. I needed them at least 10 years before but couldn't afford them with my low paying job.
My set of hearing aids cost me $4,600. My HMO at the time covered $1,000 of the cost and I had to save up for a couple of years to cover the rest of the cost. Hearing aids are also a pain to use.
I don't wear my hearing aids often because they easily fall out of my ears. I also can't use them if I exercise or if its too hot outside (because of the sweat) or while talking on the phone because they screech. The audiologist office I bought them from also contacts me every year, trying to persuade me to buy a new set for another $4 to $5K. Fat chance.
I look forward to trying a cheaper option.
3
I am fortunate to have Kaiser coverage through my former employer that covers $1000 for each ear, very much reducing my out of pocket costs. The first pair of completely in the ear hearing aides cost me $500 each ear after insurance, the last pair cost me $200 each ear. In the intervening years the technology has improved and the cost has gone down. This is consistent with most tech purchases. My good friend resisted for years, too expensive, too hard to use, and instead forced everyone around her to speak very loud, that’s tiresome. It is isolating and sometimes dangerous to not be able to hear what is going on around you. I got my first pair of hearing aides in early middle age. I didn’t tell anyone at work and noticed a colleague lowered her voice and commented to another colleague in my presence assuming I wouldn’t hear.
I enjoyed that for a few weeks before I let her know I was aware of what she was saying. People know you can’t hear, don’t let vanity be a barrier.
2
If the hearing loss is only moderate, then SuperEar Sonic Ear Personal Sound Amplifier, around $50, might help. It uses standard headphones or earbuds wired to an amplifier. It is obvious, but better than not being able to hear.
1
I use very expensive ($6400) hearing aids. They help to correct for my hearing loss but the emphasis is on the word "aid." My audiologist was/is very knowledgable and helpful. Drugstore aids won't benefit me, but they will be helpful to many. But the primary benefit of the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act may be to heighten awareness across the board. That could mean that closed captions will be provided on movies and videos. It might encourage sound engineers on those productions to rethink their background music choices because Ms Boylan's Hearphones won't help when all the sound is coming from the speakers in front of her. And it just might make all people a little more aware how their mumbled speech is impossible for some of us to understand.
Further help can come from electronic manufacturers: I would love to be able to use my noise cancelling headphones with my VHF marine radio. But I can't. There is not one manufacturer of said radios that allows for such an accessory. I've written and asked them for help and my pleas are ignored. It's as if they believe that everyone can hear perfectly even when out in the wind and waves with a noisy motor running.
There is much improvement to be made for the hearing impaired. This Act of Congress just might be a good beginning.
4
Who cares about being cool?! Believe me, I know what it's like not to be able to hear. And getting a good, appropriate device that's fitted to your particular hearing loss is way more important to one's social life than looking cool. Anyway today's hearing aids are so small and largely invisible that most people don't even realize when someone is wearing them. And at $300-$500 for an over-the-counter hearing aids, it's not exactly like going to the supermarket for a $15 pair of cheaters. Are people, outside of well to do NYT columnists and wealthy US senators, going to go to the store and fork over $500 for something that may and may not work for them? I doubt it. Hearing aids and glasses are in no way comparable.
The real problem is that, with hearing loss, one is significantly disabled both socially and employment-wise. And disabled people need to have their wheelchairs or crutches or hearing aids covered by insurance. Rather than push a gimmicky over-the-counter hearing aid bill, Elizabeth Warren's efforts would be better put to use pushing for insurers and Medicare to cover effective and prescribed hearing aids that are adapted to a person's particular hearing issues.
5
This my sound like a product endorsement but hearing aids can be purchased at Costco for about half the regular retail price, including an evaluation by an audiologist. Even better, they can be returned within six months for a full refund if you don't like them.
6
Make them look like Apple Ear Pods, or other blue tooth devices, because all the cool (young/old) people already have those! See an MD for full evaluation and then....shop around. Good hearing aids are available from Costco for a fraction of the sky high prices and even work with an inexpensive cell phone. The foundation for the ripoff pricing is sheer contempt for people with hearing loss, who are usually older people--as if they can't do the math. And yes, congress and CMS, why aren't basic hearing aids covered by Medicare and other insurances?
3
I have a friend with profound familial hearing loss who gets his hearing aids from Costco. He's a bit of a tightwad. His Costco uses audiology techs, not a Doctor of Audiology. He's complains about his devices and is constantly fiddling with them to get them to work. I don't think he'd being served well. My audiologist likes Costco, as they send him a constant stream of confused and dissatisfied costumers.
2
Coolness and ugliness are of negligible importance in comparison with the cost.
I have extremely good ("cadillac") insurance. But if I blow >$5000 on a pair of hearing aids, that money is not going for coworkers who are *really* ill and really need the money. Insurance is a form of social solidarity, even if various businesses profit off it. I was acting on this moral basis.
So I went online to a company that sold me one state of the art hearing aid for $600. I already had an audiologist's test, which I sent to the online company so they could tune it.
Because of my privileged position, I was even able to test the one I bought online in comparison the >$5000 pair. No difference. The audiologist said that the one I bought was just a couple years behind in technology.
Luckily my employer-based insurance later paid me for the $600. But my story proves how easy it would be to cut the price to a quarter of its current price, if the right decisions were made by either insurers or regulators, or both.
3
How do these not help medically? If a person can't hear they become isolated, depressed, increase the risk of dementia, and then a cascade of medically expensive follow on conditions. Hearing aids are vital to health.
7
I’ve had an expensive pair of hearing aids for almost a year. My problem is hearing conversations in noisy environments. Unforunately, the hearing aids don’t help. First, the sound level in an average NYC restaurant is equivalent to being on a rush-hour #1, 2 or 3 train: about 85 decibels, which the sound-measuring app SOUNDPRINT warns can lead to permanent hearing loss. At that level, the speech focus doesn’t do a thing. Second, the microphone is located behind the ear, where the hearing aids sit. As a result, any noise BEHIND me is incredibly magnified, causing me to practically jump out of my skin. And the current custom of loudly Woo-Hooing at performances, even, regrettably, the opera, puts my eardrums into spasm.I keep going back for adjustments, but none so far has helped.
Yet, for two months while I was in New Mexico in a quiet environment, I never felt the need to use them.
3
A friend just got new, state-of-the-art hearing aids from Costco for $2,500 (including professional audio evaluation). Corrective hearing and eyesight are helpful in the fight against dementia as we age. These amplifying hearing aids are not the best for age-related hearing loss since it's the higher frequencies that are impacted and the aid can specifically address that problem. However, if the amplifying aids' price is more affordable--better than nothing.
4
I can't, in my wildest imagination, see Donald Trump caring about American's ability to get hearing aids. That Elizabeth Warren has actually thought about this and supports legislation to make it more affordable for millions of Americans only endears her more to me, a hearing loss sufferer who is wearing ancient aides that barely work anymore because the cost is so high and insurance does not cover them.
5
They look like the technology that kids use everyday. How cool does it need to be? And, we oldsters already talk to ourselves, so it appears that we are talking TO someone, on our wireless tech. Hilarious!
5
Spooky ears and similar funny names: awful. Hearing aids lighting up like children party glasses: ridiculous.
Maybe Apple could design sexy iPlugs -- ear plugs than can muffle unwanted noise and can enhance hearing too?
1
I have conductive hearing loss in both my ears and wear hearing aids in both ears -- and this article is absolutely dumb. There is nothing cool about hearing loss and there is nothing uncool about wearing hearing aides. It's just life. Deal.
What can change is this -- hearing aides are a racket -- an uncool racket, just like all special interest phenomena.
5
Curious why our ears, mouth and eyes, portals above our necks to three of our cognitive senses are off limits to standard medical evaluation, treatment and insurable.
5
Each of us has a medical problem, but I don't want to pay for other people's problems nor do I want unregulated provision of what are medical devices, even if they have cute names like "hearphones."
My V.A. hearing aid cod the V.A, over $7,000. And it is UGLY! Dead looking flesh etc. And it keeps falling off my glasses and onto the ground. Lost one in Hurricane Mathews..
My previous V.A. hearing aid all my high school students thought was “really cool”. It was stiff and was chrome looking. It looked like a super fashion statement.It stood out!. Even the gang bangers liked it.
My prosthetic, above the knee, leg had my four best military units patched imbedded including my Sky Dragon, Mad Dog Wolf, Sword and Lightning Bolts, and Big Red 1. Little kids ask if I am a cyborg. Street thugs like it.
Glasses used to be ugly prosthetics. Now they can be so fine that non prescription lenses are often present.
Shoot. People think that Apple ear pieces are cool. They command respect. Please, let us have chrome hearing aids that are stiff enough not to fall out when running or the wind is blowing or we bend over to get something. And let us be cool. It is actually much safer on the streets late at night to be cool that to be disabled.
@Ramon.Reiser I wear two VA supplied hearing aids. My loss was a well documented service incurred injury. At 73 I couldn't care less about how "uncool" behind the ear aids might look. I treasure the ability to turn on or off my hearing as the situation dictates.
3
What could be more pathetic than a geezer who needs to be "cool," or fantasizes that he or she could be, from the only perspective that determines "coolness" in every era, the perspective of the actually young, cool, and hip. To them, geezers will always just be slightly comical, and pathetic. Deal with it, accept your age, and enjoy it to the hilt. At 76, I've never been happier, complete with my dorky, but wonderfully cheap, Costco hearing aids.
2
I finally got a pair of hearing aids.
I looked up hearing aids in consumer reports.
Cosco had the highest ratings for hearing aid services.
They have a free hearing exam by an audiologist,
I mean really free. They give you a written report on the spot.
There is no pressure at all. There is a prominent sign indicating that the audiologist do not work on commission. They are salaried.
They have a 6 month unconditional return quality. Great service and great prices.
4
What we really need is a hearing aid that can double as an eyeglass temple and/or earpiece. By the time I get both my glasses and my hearing aids on, my ears stick out so far I'm afraid of losing the hearing aids to the wind! And forget hats -- they make the aids squeal like blue murder.
26
@Jane Hunt I seem to remember seeing hearing aids built into eyeglass temples as a child and that was 60 years ago. What ever happened to them?
1
@Jane Hunt
My hearing aids with glasses cause neither problem. But they are very expensive.
1
@Jane Hunt I wear a Panama hat all summer (8 months or so) without a problem. Have yours checked out. Good luck
It would be wonderful if hearing aids became as cool and as ubiquitous as glasses. It seems incredibly cruel that as we age our hearing does diminish as well as our manual dexterity. And hearing aids are a source of shame so the devices and the batteries are tiny making it incredibly difficult for the elderly to handle them properly. Spock ears sound terrific.
1
Lat time I checked, my ears, teeth, eyes, and brain were all rather firmly attached, and integrated with, my body. We need comprehensive healthcare, not slices of this and that dictated by insurance companies.
1
You write: “lt was my argument that hearing aids should be more stylish — ”
NO! They should be affordable and in sync with the technology of today.
Mostly, AFFORDABLE!
I bought 2 Terabyte hard drive today for $59.00. My wife struggles to find a hearing aid at the same level of technology for less than $3,000.
This stinks.
2
Great and thoughtful column, ending with an Envy-laced swipe at some imaginary billionaire or cruel Republican.
Does the Left ever tire of blaming the world’s problems on their political foes?
2
@Stuart No!, because the Republican party's total support and full employment by the upper 1 percent of the capitalist class insure the ongoing problems in the world will never be solved as that might impact their bottom line.
1
I have been in the market for OTC aids for a while. My ability to discern discrete speech from multiple conversations is not adequate. I also have weak auding ability: distractible, I did not learn good skills to focus on one person speaking to me in a crowd. College bar nights were impossible. HeIping a teacher in a first grade classroom, I could not make out words from a tiny, high frequency voice among 20.
So I was delighted to read that Bose - widely respected - has Hearphones, then disappointed that Bose does not sell Hearphones in Canada:
"08-20-2018 Hi: Bose has not announced plans to make Hearphones available outside the USA." Que pasa?
Just my two cents on why glasses are "cool" but hearing aids are not. Many of us needed eyeglasses when we were young. Most people need hear aids as part of the aging process. And in the US we hate old people, all pretenses aside.
4
Finally!-- someone else is saying.
The designs now are hideous, as small as possible and easy to lose and impossible to find as a contact lens. Also, everything digital drops in price except hearing aids.
2
Some people just want functional hearing aids while others also want style. Imagine a "Warby Parker" with functional, hip hearing aids. They would be filled with Boomers who need help hearing but still want to feel youthful and cool. Boomers could change this market the way they have changed so many others.
19
My mother-in-law was virtually deaf from her early 40s on. Even Medicare would not pay for her hearing aids. That is disgraceful.
My boss just got new Bluetooth connected hearing aids and they cost $3000
I’m not sure about them being stylish, you can’t even tell he has them in without being a foot from his ear.
Having just asked him he said he’d prefer if they figured out how to make them in a shape that means his glasses still fit around his ears.
1
For many people with hearing loss (depending upon the pathology involved) streaming music directly into their ears, as the writer described, is incredibly foolish behavior. It can lead to worsening of hearing loss or in some cases deafness. I know. It happened to me.
@Col Wagon
The devices come with a volume control.....
My first and only hearing aid is one of those flesh colored blobs .
I painted it dark metallic blue, to make it look more like the hipster pods that people are wearing.
23
Once again, must do what Times columnists really should consider doing when they choose to write about Health Care in America, provide at least one sample from a country not seen as world leader but at least one of the leaders in Public Health.
Here, Jennifer Finney Boylan and my fellow Americans is my report from little Sweden.
A few months ago I booked an appointment with an audionom at Linköping University Hospital. Appointment in hand, I went there, punched my personal number and a code on the digital check in and went to the appropriate waiting room.
Examination carried out be an audionom who came here from Iran.
Cost = zero
In a few weeks I went for the first of three meetings with the audionom who would give me test hearing aids, check my hearing profile, and let me see how they worked.
Cost = zero
At the end of August I went to confirm that they do indeed help me and I will keep them.
I used them yesterday at the Red Cross where my Iranian colleagues and I conversed for two hours with asylum seekers or new citizens from: Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. I explained to them that I would be hearing them better thanks to the things I then put in my ears.
Total cost for everything including the hearing aids?
1000 SEK = $100 USD
NEVER in America
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
68
@Larry Lundgren Great example. Of course, it's not actually "free" in that it's built into the tax base, and that's the comparison we need to make. And I'm all for it being built into the tax base which distributes the burden and opportunity across the whole populace.
17
@Carolyn - Yes of course but note in my 23 years here I have never been hit by some sudden major medical expense. I have 3 well functioning stents in my heart that cost me about 200 SEK each - that is just for checking in to the hospital (2 put in in January, another in February). Just read the recent Times story about employee provided health insurance and privat insurance, the amounts paid were in my view beyond belief. In my present example, I cannot test some US $3000 hearing aid but the ones I have help and they cost nothing.
I have mentioned often that one of the candidates should have staff people learning about comparisons like this.
Today I made one of my regular contributions to Elizabeth Warren.
Thanks for the observations.
Larry L.
8
@Larry Lundgren
Yep - $100 USD as opposed to $4600.00 here in the U.S.
Americans aren't asking themselves the right questions about Single Payer/Medicare for All. Will our taxes go up? Absolutely.
Will they go up so much that they cost more than the monthly insurance premiums + deductibles + copays + out-of-network surprises? Absolutely not.
And in this example, insurance rarely covers hearing aids, and Audiologists don't want anything over-the-counter because it takes money out of their pockets.
3
One of the best ads I have ever seen was for a hearing aid and had the simple headline: "Think of it as a contact lens for your ear."
1
I have moderate hearing loss, which makes conversations hard to follow, and TV intolerable at normal levels. That is if I'm not wearing my hearing aids.
I'm 63 and at 60 I purchased my first pair. Essentially invisible fully in the ear hearing aids. I'm so glad I did. They have completely changed my life.
You can see me talk about them here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUIX_DQHdGI
1
@Joe Sabin
Just this week I got my hearing aids. The are great I agree.
I chose the small over the ear model. They are hardly noticable.
1
Very interesting article. I learned something. Thank you.
Now, if they'd only manufacture hearing aids which could silence anything about DJT they'd be bestsellers.
3
I paid about $5000 for a pair of Widex hearing aids, together with an extensive audiology exam and programming of the hearing aids. Like most aging men I was found to have a reduction of hearing at higher frequencies. This especially makes initial consonants hard to distinguish from one another, like say vs. day (especially when listening to female voices). The audiologist programmed my hearing aids to amplify higher frequency sounds, based on my test results. The problem is that it also amplifies unwanted sounds like the sound of an air conditioner or the tinkling of dishes in a restaurant, so that it it is quite annoying. These hearing aids are also fragile and break easily; repairs are extremely expensive.
2
@JerryV I also have high frequency hearing loss. The Oticon hearing aids I purchased recognize and filter out non speech sounds, so I haven't noticed the problem with background noise you describe. They come with a three year warranty; repairs are free. My audiologist includes fee batteries, adjustments and a yearly exam in the purchase price. Like yours, they are programmed to my specific hearing loss and are both Bluetooth and iPhone compatible.
1
I appreciated hearing about the Bose Hearphones and am looking into them, but you also mentioned that you use a PSAP. What kind of PSAP are you using? How happy are you with it? And what did it cost?
2
I've been using The Bean, and it is very good for my mild to moderate hearing loss. My audiologist recommended it. I got it directly from the company, but it is also available on Amazon etc. I think it was around $400 for two. It is not invisible, but I don't care about that.
Google The Bean.
1
Prescription glasses, hearing aids, and basic dental care should be covered by Medicare/Medicaid because being able to see, hear, and eat keeps people independent and healthy, which is a long-term gain for society, especially when we're looking at the retirement Boom.
20
@Katrin Medicaid does cover glasses, hearing aid, and dental, Medicare does not. If you're a poor enough senior you get all.
1
If you hear better you do better.
Medicare and insurance companies need to cover at least a part of the cost of hearing aids. Hearing loss can lead to isolation, which can lead to depression, which can and often does lead to other health problems. Common sense seems to be in short supply when it comes to insurance coverage.
7
Viagra is not medically necessary. Why do insurance companies cover Viagra, but will not help people who can’t hear? Nor do they cover dental needs; oral health has been recognized to have major impact on health, specifically on the heart.
6
@Louisa Glasson
I am a registered dental hygienist and have recently left the profession after 40 years.
when I first started industry standard was about 8 patients a day.
on my last day of work I had 25 patients scheduled.
this is what happens when corporations buy medical and dental practices for extreme profit.
there, I said it.
2
I support the comments that allude to the ineffectiveness of hearing aids from Costco. But no need to beat up on Costco, as they at least make an attempt to normalize products loaded with social negatives. Caskets, hearing aids, eye glasses, and adult diapers. Can anyone imagine someone snickering at age three to sixty years old still wearing diapers?
The hearing aids I got from Costco are minimally effective. As an educator in a middle school and high school they are great for staff meetings. Hardly an effective use as a special educator in their early 60's. I need ear buds that will work for the soft voices I strain to hear in a busy classroom. Hearing aids do not provide that. At all. They just make the classroom noise unbearable and increases the exhaustion I feel at the end of the day.
In interactions with students I can come across as old and "out of it". I ask for repeats, say something off topic, or simply be seen as uncaring. It does not matter if I explain to them what the barrier is because it addresses my input as they struggle learning how to formulate their output.
I'm all in on improving the acceptance of effective hearing devices. But just being stylish leads nowhere. Most of our population wants to be heard, what they say is important. Hearing aids do not help that exchange. I'm fit, wise, and full of understanding, but I can't hear you with these cool earbuds. The tech needs to improve on them. That is what is important.
2
Neither prescription glasses nor LASIK surgery are not covered by insurance. Lenses can cost over $600 for each eye if one has astigmatism and/or severe myopia or hyperopia. The cost of lenses, but not necessarily the frames, should also be covered by medical insurance and not require supplemental insurance.
3
It’s nice you pointed out this bill was co-sponsored by Grassley of Iowa. What I thought of, however was how the republicans banded against Obama to crush even legislation they had previously supported. If Warren, or any other democrat is elected, I’m afraid they’d likely do the same, even to something as beneficent as greater access to hearing devices. Nothing is too petty.
4
A good insight. Similarly, voice to text technology was just for people with disabilities until Siri and Alexa made it cool. Now it's ubiquitous.
2
The cost of good hearing aids is dropping like a rock. In 2015 I got two Phonak Brio hearing aids at Costco for $2600. My wife just got her second pair from Costco this year for $1600. They are the same class as mine, but better -- more digital features. Her first pair, purchased in 2012 cost about $5000. We are both in the mild to moderate range.
I agree with other commenters that having a hearing test by an audiologist is important. That test is free, even if you don't buy hearing aids from the audiologist. People who can't afford real hearing aids can then buy over-the-counter PSAPs.
1
I totally agree with expanding Medicare coverage to include hearing aids. What's missing from the discussion is how to pay for them. Unless Americans are willing to pay more in taxes (and not just on the "rich"), there is a finite pool of resources that can be dedicated to public purposes. So let's start with the big buckets of government spending and get those allocations right. Perhaps we're spending too much on national defense and too little on protecting the environment. Great! Move some money from defense to the environment. Once the macro allocations are approximately correct, go on to the micro allocations, i.e., within those big buckets of government money. Again, the question becomes how to get the most bang for our buck. For example, if we are comfortable with the macro allocation of tax dollars to old age support and the micro allocation of tax dollars to Medicare, how do we maximize aggregate benefits? Here we must use something akin to quality adjusted life years (QALY) to guide our decision making. It should be fairly uncontroversial that improving the hearing of a 65-year-old is more of a benefit to society than improving the hearing of an 85-year-old (everything else held constant). The tricky part is deciding between a hip replacement for a single 65-year-old and providing hearing aids for fifty 65-year-olds. We need to have that discussion as a society before hearing aids become an entitlement the way hip replacements are.
3
Entitlement? I worked all my adult life and contributed. After two hip replacements, I am back at work and functioning. How dare you refer to medical care as an entitlement.
1
@Barbie
Sorry, but you have been misinformed. Assuming they meet the 40-quarter requirement (or are even merely married to someone who does), people over 65 are entitled to the same level of Medicare Part A coverage regardless of how much or how little they contributed in FICA taxes. In addition, any Part B premiums you have paid represented only 25% of the actual cost of the insurance coverage you received. The rest is paid from general revenues, which translates largely to income taxes. As you are undoubtedly aware, federal income taxes are paid disproportionately by top earners with about half of U.S. citizens contributing exactly zero in federal income tax. So please save your outrage over my correct usage of the word "entitlement" in this context as it is unwarranted by the facts.
1
So there is finally hope for those of us who have a hearing impairment that will not take three of our Social Security Checks. If this isn't enough to show how effective Warren is with across the aisle, I don't know what it will take. The millions of us who have had to suffer with this ailment because there is no insurance and most people do not have an extra $5,000 sitting around to be spent on hearing aides or anything else that we may need for necessities.
Maybe this will convince all of those Democrats and Republicans in Congress that she has the right stuff.
Remember, everyone does need Health care, good quality health care. If insurance companies are not willing to give us low cost, quality health care this will convince those skeptics that Health Care for All is necessary.
You go Warren.
11
I can attest that hearing aids are not eyeglasses. You can buy basic readers and actually see, this is not true about hearing aids. My hearing aids cost $5000.00 for the pair and in most scenarios do not work. Yes, these hearing aids have alot of bells and whistles but nothing that allows you to hear and participate in the conversation. Hearing Aids merely augment sound, sound has nothing to do with comprehending speech. Restaurants amplify extreme sound as well, where everything and anything is LOUD. This is the sad reality of hearing aids in America.
7
@Carol
I am 62, have a 60/40 hearing loss, and have worn very expensive, high quality hearing devices for 10 years. I couldn't agree with you more. All they do is make everything louder, to the point that some sounds cause pain. Speech is still a strain to understand. The highly touted Bluetooth features and cellphone controls only make it nearly impossible to quickly turn them down quickly in response to unexpected loud noise; watching movies (esp in theaters) with constantly changing dynamics and dialogue is a nightmare. They are ugly, uncomfortable (and mine are relatively small), interfere with bows on glasses, itchy and the batteries die at the worst possible times.
And people think, because you are wearing them, that your hearing is restored to normal. Couldn't be further from the actual truth. Better than nothing, but sorely inadequate, especially for the price.
4
@Carol: Then you need to go back to your audiologist and have some tweaking done.
Hearing aids do not (or should not, if properly set up) "merely augment sound" across the board but should selectively augment sound in the ranges you cannot hear in the general situation as well as have settings/programs to filter out extraneous noise in noisy environments and focus on sounds in the range produced by human speech. Many can also be set up to do this in one direction - the direction you're facing - while blocking sound from others.
This has already been mentioned in the comments.
Hearing aids are not like glasses in that everything can be precisely configured before the end user has had a chance to try them out in the real world situations they will be listening in. Many of the new ones (including the Unitron Moxi Jump R - which is what I'm using) will data collect regarding the listening environments they've encountered over some set, rolling period of time, so as to assist your audiologist in tweaking them to better fit your actual listening needs.
One should expect that getting a high-end set of digital hearing aids "honed to perfection" will be an iterative process and one where they need to communicate with their audiologist about what is, and is not, working as far as one's ability to hear in specific settings.
2
I was able to try Costco hearing aids for a trial period and returned them since they didn't help enough. I actually returned them a day over the trial period and the audio guy wasn't going to refund me but the store manager intervened and I got a full refund ... Thank God for Costco's incredible return policy and customer service!
I'm now on my 2nd pair of $5,000 hearing aids from an audiologist and get a hearing test and tune-up every 6 months which must count for most of the cost. I still have hearing problems but the aids do provide some help.
After reading this article my vote (and donations) will go to Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders as something has to be done to actually help the citizenry and stop the "winner take all" structure of our economy. Affordable hearing health and aids are at least a start. It would be good to get a few folks that seem to care into Washington DC to fight for the rest of us!
6
@Laurel . Costco deserves credit because they are a great company. My husband bought hearing aids at Costco and for several months after buying his hearing aids every time he went to Costco to fill up his car, he would visit the audio person to make adjustments. He is now a successful wearer of hearing aids, but it did take about 6 months of Costco's great service policy and my nagging to accomplish this!
I love Costco for many reasons, but to me the most important policy is that everyone that works there, including the person handing you a hot dog, has health insurance.
11
@Laurel: Indeed, the absolute need for the "care and feeding" of hearing aids by the audiologist for the wearer is a part of the cost up front. Hearing virtually always changes over time, and this requires adjusting the parameters of the hearing aids. My own audiologist allows for free visits for 5 years post-purchase of digital programmable hearing aids.
It is critical that those getting aids in this class, whether with fewer bells and whistles or all of them, realize that hearing aids are not a "plug 'em in your ear and everything is perfect from day one" affair. No one, including your audiologist, can know exactly how you will perceive things once you have a major adjustment to your hearing.
Hearing aids have to be fine-tuned, and audiologists know this and expect they'll be doing it. Many who get hearing aids, even when told this, seem to ignore it entirely and, sadly, often reject the aids when they aren't doing what was expected, but could if the fine-tuning was done.
Getting hearing aids working just right is an iterative process.
2
My partner just got hearing aids from Costco and it has changed his life so much for the better! Three years ago he tried a pair from a local ENT office but didn't keep them; they didn't work well and cost almost 7K. Costco provided an almost invisible pair with charging stand and iPhone app that works very well, indeed. The birdsong is back, and for a third of the cost of the originals.
9
Hearing aids today are cosmetically very discrete - it is hard to see that someone has them on. However, the functionality needs to be vastly improved. They are no where the effectiveness of glasses. As a result, there are some Americans (and others) who will suffer from dementia because they find it difficult to be part of this world.
Like a lot of American healthcare, here is another example of how we don't worry about the quality of life - but only the quantity.
FYI. Medicare pays for the audiologist just as it pays for eye doctor visit.
2
I became aware of pretty typical hearing loss in my mid-fifties, loss of that high frequency sensitivity that makes hearing consonants difficult (and bird song). So I went along to my doctor, who referred me to an audiologist, who tested my hearing and prescribed hearing aids. Good quality, Danish made, digital hearing aids, programmed for my particular hearing loss. Because I'm in the UK, there was of course no charge to me for any of this, and the audiologist told me that our NHS pays about £50, that is $60, for the hearing aids, which it buys by the million.
Meanwhile my Californian mother-in-law got very similar hearing aid... the third most expensive purchase of her life.
You're being ripped off. And most people's needs aren't being met. Isn't it time America joined the modern world?
47
@Tom Donald, A lot of us may very well join you if Trump gets re-elected.
2
Neither private health insurance nor medicare cover hearing aids. eyeglasses, or most dental work. If you're lucky, your employer may offer additional plans for vision care and dental care; in my experience, the dental insurance was so expensive it only made sense to buy it if you knew you were having major work done in the next year. In Pennsylvania, you can use your eyeglass insurance coverage on full-price glasses, or you can use"coupons" that bring the glasses down to the same price. You cannot use both. In other words, the vision insurance is worthless.
This division seems like a relic of medieval guilds. Vision problems and hearing issues are medical problems that require care. Toothache pain is far worse than many medical issues which are covered.
As usual Bernie Sanders is the one candidate speaking out: we need Medical for All, and Medicare needs to cover all medical issues, including hearing loss, dental work, and vision care.
14
We have Advocare, a Medicare supplemental plan, that does cover eye glasses once a year and a local, large medical clinic did have a 'special' on hearing aids that were a fraction of the cost I had previously paid.
In terms of eye glasses if your distant vision is bad you need to see an othalmologist for an eye exam and refraction. For close vision 'readers' at a local store fill the bill.
I think the main reason Medicare does not cover hearing aids is the real and certain fear that unscrupulous people would be testing and selling aids to people who do not need them.
I wear hearing aids for a significant high frequency hearing loss caused by years of upland game hunting without adequate ear protection.
The audiologist makes sure the fit is correct and tunes them. I am not sure how many of the elderly are computer competent enough to tune them and fit is important.
The biggest boon to over the counter aids is to drive down the outrageous costs of hearing aids sold through clinics.
5
I'm so glad to hear Jennifer Boyland ask the question why hearing aids are not covered by insurance, and why hearing is not considered essential. It seems hearing, teeth, and sight are not all that important for insurance purposes. My opinion is that the AMA has something to do with all of this. They are able to dictate many decisions that might interfere with their monetary intake. It cost me $6,000 for two hearing aids which I needed at age 55, due to a near fatal car accident when I was 18 years old. I was told I may need them as I got older because I had severe head injuries. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford them, but why should it cost that much? So, if you can't afford it, you will not enjoy a quality of life, and according to research, those with untreated hearing problems are more prone to dementia. The politicians keep on telling us that the US has the best health care system in the world. On a more positive note, I am glad that for those with a lesser hearing problem, they will be able to purchase a device for $300-$350. The progress we are making is too slow.
11
It's ludicrous that Medicare & most insurances don't cover hearing aids, glasses, or dental care, as if, as you rightly note, hearing, vision and oral health are luxuries. Extraordinarily, given the status quo assumptions of health insurance discussions, Bernie Sanders "Medicare for All" bill recognizes this critical deficiency and would cover these needs for all Americans. This should be acknowledged and emphasized by all health care commentators.
11
I developed moderate to severe hearing loss in my early 30's during the 80's and started down the long arduous and expensive road of trying to hear. I can assure you it is a lonely and stressful road. Not only can you not keep up with any conversation, but no one realizes it either. Analog aids turned into digital aids, which just made everything sound harsh and tinny, then finally in the past 5-10 years real advancements were made. $5,000 later for the first time in 30 years I could hear birds, the leaves rustling in the wind and someone talking in the other room. I cried as did my spouse of 25 years.
I have probably paid over $100,000 dollars for hearing aids so far in my lifetime, and since my medicare that just kicked in doesn't pay for them, will probably pay $20,000 more if I want to keep hearing.
Healthcare in this country is a nefarious enterprise.
I'm with Senator Warren on this one!!
34
I am happy for this development- I hope it moves forward. It is worth noting that Medicare also does not cover glasses, except after cataract or some corrective surgeries. This is also a concern as so many older people's vision changes at the same time income is declining. A replacement pair of bifocals, for instance, can easily cost $350 or more.
14
@dr.annie What's worse is that Medicare doesn't cover dental care, which has been shown time and time again to affect health in any number of ways.
9
Agree with Warren and some of the comments. Hearing aid is an industry ripe for disruption. It has some characteristics of the optometry/ glasses business and some aspect of the pharmaceutical complex. To wit: When we buy glasses, we have many price points, many outlets and we take a nominally priced test because some of that cost is offset by the selling of frames and lenses. The hearing aid business, if it mimicked that, would burgeon. On the other hand, because audiologists gatekeep the ear phones and because the price is high and insurance is possibly involved, the MSRP of the equipment is high in the US. I bet it is a lower unit cost to providers in other nations just as the drugs which are produced in the US cost less to overseas users because there are no insurers, doctors and pharmacies gatekeeping for maximum profit.
6
@Suburban Cowboy The problem is that the OTC hearing aids leave out the part, as I understand it, of the personal fitting. Hearing loss is not global; people lose hearing in different frequencies at different rates. Raising the sound of everything doesn't help a person who can't hear high frequencies but can hear low frequencies. Thus, the hearing aid needs to be fitted to the individual, and that's an added cost.
2
I'm sure I could hearing aids but I've resisted since they're the final signal that I'm now old. The free hearing test I took at Costco is pretty definitive, but a pair of aids there would cost close to $3K. Cheaper than most other sources. Main problem I see is that I can't take them home for a trial run. I can try them out in the store, but situations where they are the most useful are absent there.
8
I bought a back up ,hearing aid at Costco aNd was given a thirty day trial period. Yes, I had to pay for them up front but was assured I’d get my money back if they didn’t work. A majority of states mandate that there be a cooling off period for hearing aid purchases after the purchase. In NY it’s 45 days.
3
Our audiologist offers a free trial whenever we purchase new hearing aids for our sons.
Some people refuse to wear hearing aides because they can be considered a nuisance. Changing batteries is a challenge for aging hands. Their maintenance is an issue. Their operation is not simple in many cases and the ones written about in this article require an iPhone. That is a big monthly expense for some budgets who can get by with simpler phones. I've seen many pairs of expensive hearing aides sitting in drawers. Make them free for all, and there will be many more. Like anything in life, if you have to pay something, you value it more. (signed an aging Speech Pathologist who can't get by in some situations without her hearing aides. Ie, understanding grandchildren)
6
@Pat Owen Remember, an iPhone to control hearing aids does not need to have cellular service and monthly fees. Buy a used one from someone on the phone upgrade treadmill. The only caveat is to make sure the hearing aid control app will work with whatever version of the operating system (iOS) a particular used model will support.
The iPod Touch might also be candidate here. Touches are very similar to iPhones, without the added expense of the phone hardware.
1
@Haef Thank you!
There is no doubt that the OTC hearing aids will help some people with some degree of hearing loss. For people with more severe hearing loss, there are already some great providers of high end hearing aids for a fraction of the priced charged by local clinics. Have a look at Costco or the online provider EmbraceHearing.com. Both of these providers are selling high end models for less than have the retail price.
3
I've been wearing glasses for 60 years...and there's nothing cool about it. Without them I'm legally blind.
Hearing aids don't need to be cool. They need to be affordable, free through Medicare and Medicaid, affordable through private insurance policies. Whether it's $500 or $4000, most of America's hearing impaired can't afford these aids without financial assistance.
Artificial knees and hips have become very popular, and most health insurances cover them. They're not cool either...but, they remove most of the pain from ambulating with bone grinding against bone joints.
My 91 year old mother is oxygen dependent. She was able to afford a $3,200 portable oxygen machine that can easily be carried on a shoulder...and that's cool, because she can travel easily beyond the confines of her home. This machine isn't covered by Medicare, so few elderly with COPD have my mother's freedom of movement. That's not cool.
14
Funny how the stigma of many normal human conditions can often be drowned out by a solution of function and, of course, vanity. Win. Win. Win. Time to fast track it.
While seeing and hearing are both extremely important to stay connected to people and the world, being able to hear is the most important of the two. When someone's vision or hearing diminishes as they age, it has a profound effect on them emotionally. Hearing loss stops people in their tracks regarding communication with people. Sometimes they withdraw and hide from the world. Vision loss can do his too but they have the ability to speak on the phone if someone's calls them.
I am thrilled to hear there will be the opportunity to get a less expensive hearing aid.
3
I have moderate hearing loss and tinnitus. Like many, I don't need hearing aids all of the time, but have trouble hearing in noisy environments and higher pitches. Worst for me though is not hearing birds, or the tree frogs and the trill of insects in late summer. I have the Bose product and they have changed my life. I agree with Elizabeth Warren and the author... this market needs to be cracked open to encourage affordable hearing solutions like the Hearphones. I foresee a day when humans could have implanted devices that let us control our hearing environment with a few swipes on our phones as these do.
3
I have a friend who refused to wear hearing aids, even though he obviously needed them. He said there was discrimination against people who wore hearing aids. But then, at dinner he would lean his head toward whoever was speaking and cup his ear with his hand, That always seemed to be worse than wearing an aid. It’s more of an issue for men than women, because older men often can’t hide the aid behind their hair and women can. I have needed aids for years and refused to wear them due to my vanity. When I found I had trouble hearing someone at the opposite end of a long table, I finally gave up and got them. After a while, you forget you have them on. They are expensive, but fortunately my federal employee insurance covers them. It’s too bad, that Congressmen and women and Senators can get hearing aids for free, but they won’t give them to their consituents.
15
I have hearing aids. I was examined by an audiologist who determined the ranges where my hearing was defective. I received hearing aids that cost $6,000 and provide a marginal if any improvement in my hearing. The primary benefit from the hearing aids was that it stopped friends and relatives from telling me that I needed hearing aids.
10
Hearing loss is a significant public health and safety issue that should be as important to address as vision loss. People who do not hear well can have grave misunderstandings in important conversations in person and on the phone that can adversely affect their health and well being. And yet we often treat those with hearing loss, particularly seniors, as though it is their own fault or as though it is 'cute'. Improving hearing technology is far more important than all the current tech offered to seniors that monitors and measures their every movement through the day.
6
Don't get me started on hearing aides.
Senator Warren is moving in the right direction by advancing legislation to make getting such devices as easy as visiting a CVS.
They shouldn't be $5,000 a pair as mine were, and they shouldn't require an audiologist, and assistant, and a whole office set up. Look, even Warby Parker could do it.
I'm in my 50s, and statistics point out that men wait 7 or more years before getting hearing aides. It's time for legislative reform.
11
This article misses one point: people with hearing loss should have a hearing test. Same way that people with vision loss - instead of just buying readers - should get an eye exam.
Lots of hearing loss is age-related and unavoidable (and un-reversable). OTC hearing aids would be great for people with mild age-related hearing loss.
But some reasons - inner ear /brainstem tumors, mechanical problems with the bones of the middle ear, damage to the ear drum itself - need medical evaluation. An audiogram is a non-invasive, relatively cheap way to identify causes of hearing that need a higher level of care.
9
@Sam This problem is happening in the United States, though, which means that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people with hearing loss cannot afford to visit an audiologist.
Where many voters would literally rather remain hard-of-hearing (and/or have friends and relatives who cannot hear them speak) than risk (eek!) "socialized medicine."
3
My 94 YO physician father in law (now with dementia) requires hearing aids. He has lost several (@ $5,000/pair) and replacements takes months to get and require yet another hard-to-get audiologist appointment.
As a doc he demands “the best” which the audiologist is happy to provide. As an elderly person with dementia he lacks the basic technical skills or recall to operate them.
This expensive cycle of pay, order, fit, use, lose repeat seems destined to continue until the end.
I feel like buying him the Bose model now. It can’t hurt.
9
@JAS-it's exactly what you should do. Tell him they ARE the best.
Anyone who has lived with someone whose hearing is impaired knows how difficult it can be for that person to be fully integrated in to the lives of friends and family. It doesn't matter how much everyone loves each other, conversations are missed - the voice of the person who is hearing impaired is often not heard. When it is time to make calls to spread happy news or just check in, it is hard not to hesitate knowing that know matter how loudly you yell in to the phone, it probably will not be heard so the conversation becomes a lot of forced laughs and "sure, sure, sure."
For those people who can be helped, of course hearing aids should be affordable and covered by insurance -- public and private. When you can't engage with those around you, it is too easy to become isolated which is a less than healthy way to live.
10
Yes, by all means, let's radically improve the availability of hearing aids.
But let's not denigrate the joys of absolute silence.
The good dog in the picture here and I mute our TV every time Trump appears on it.
And we have already decided that if Samsung or Vizio ever get around to manufacturing one that turns off automatically whenever he appears on it, we're buying it.
16
@A. Stanton-hard of hearing individuals do not hear silence. They hear buzzing and ringing and other noises, as well as indistinct speech that is maddening to them. Yes, in some noisy environments they can turn off their hearing aids and be less annoyed, but mostly the sounds they do hear are experienced as "almost" audible and deeply frustrating.
15
The article makes all the sense. Hope government agencies try to heed the message.
5
Amplification does little for clarity. You get what you pay for.
The scandal is the cost of hearings aids which actually help.
Instead of granting gratuitous tax cuts to billionaires or funding redundant weapons systems, we might want to vote for people who want to aid average Americans.
22
At 68, I don’t need hearing aids. Yet. But I am hoping that by the time I do, Elizabeth Warren and others with our interests, rather than those of the wealthy and powerful, will implement plans to help Americans live better lives. In the meantime, if I could purchase a noise-canceling device that would filter out the sound of Donald Trump’s voice on the news, it would be worth every penny.
17
Hearing aids, dental surgery/reconstruction, eye glasses - all things excluded in Medicare. All, or at least 2 out of 3, in my experience with my 4 parental units, are needed by seniors and are rife for manipulation by industry "specialists." As pointed out here, audiologists have risen to kingpin status. In my experience they sit as a gateway to high priced alternatives - of which you could buy 4 or more at Costco to do a trial and error experiment and still come out financially ahead. Like so much of medicine aimed at the senior market, hearing aids are a racket.
Elizabeth Warren has many plans to move our health care towards a more holistic approach, as do other candidates. Hopefully out of this election cycle we will end up with a government that works for all citizens maximizing their ability to contribute to the common good.
21
My audiologist told me that most people wait too long to get hearing aids and thus are not able to maximize their use. What put me over the edge is reading that not correcting hearing loss can lead to dementia. I also thought that my hearing loss was genetic but found out years later it was caused from the chemotherapy that saved my life years ago. People who worry about looking old because they wear hearing aids, need to realize that they appear old when they continue to not be able to hear conversations and isolate themselves.
25
@K
The good ones now are all but invisible. But I’d wear them if they were balloons.
Costco sells hearing aids at a fraction of the cost.
5
@k, glad you mentioned Costco. mine in Teterboro,nj has an excellent audiologist and staff and the fraction you mention is 1/2. I also recommend the novel by David Lodge, "deaf sentence." a pair, and you do need a pair costs $2700 and they are insured for 3 years. nothing is perfect and that is why they are called"hearing aids not hearing cures.
3
A number of years ago I read In the New York Times about hearing aids that were non-prescription and affordable. I proceeded to purchase top of the line hearing aids from MDHearing Aid AIR at www.MDHearingAid.com for $700. They helped me out immensely until The Affordable care act covered hearing aids. The only thing needed was an official hearing test showing my impediments. Later I found out my hearing loss was from the chemotherapy Taxol that helped to save my life. Apparently now when you have cancer treatment you are warned that your treatment can cause hearing loss.
4
I am still looking for the magic bullet in the hearing loss field. Most restaurants today are impossibly noisy. Normal conversation is impossible. And I will not talk by text messaging. There are two choices. Do not eat out or find a hearing device that blocks out surrounding restaurant noise. The device should not be so expensive as to cost an arm or a leg or an ear. I am still looking.
7
With not eating out you save two ways. The cost of the hearing aids and the cost of the overpriced food.
1
@Milton Lewis My Livio hearing aids have buttons you can customize for up to (I think) five situations. I chose "car" and "restaurant."
Both settings help reduce the frequencies typical of those settings, so I can hear conversation frequencies better.
But I agree with you--quieter restaurants would make dining out far more pleasant!
1
@Milton Lewis
Restaurants are the enemy of conversation, even if you are not hearing-impaired.
The hearing aid industry is ripe for disruption. The devices have almost no production cost; I'm guessing the pair of Starkeys I paid $5 G's for could not have cost $35 to manufacture. So, time to open it up!
Today, audiologists charge nothing for the exam, and they don't give you a prescription, just a very rough chart. I'd rather pay for the exam and have a multitude of consumer oriented retailers to choose my hardware from. The transition will not go smoothly, but it's got to happen, and that transition to better devices with more capability and acceptance will go more slowly if insurance pays for it or most of it. The hardware is cheap to manufacture. Get it out there and let's try some.
20
As a senior citizen on a fixed income the price of regular hearing aids, which I do need, is far beyond my means. I'm now using the CC setting on the TV, which helps a lot, but have difficulty with conversation. I make no bones about being a bit hard of hearing, though, and simply tell people I am, so most people will simply speak a bit louder and don't mind repeating if needed. Until/unless Medicare is changed to assist with the cost of hearing aids, this is it.
17
At first instinct, my trepidation lies with the quality and tests to match the over-the-counter devices with the person who purchases it. At a minimum, these can damage hearing quickly if not somewhat mapped to the individual. At best, it’ll bring the industry to its knees and drive down prices from Audiologist groups and hearing aid manufacturers. I do believe it’ll increase access to improve the quality of life for millions of Americans, but I’ll wait until the data comes in.
I’ve been wearing hearing aids since age 3 and they haven’t improved all that much in the past 31 years. It’s time for disruption and I hope that new manufacturers can put out quality tests and aids for a fraction of the cost.
13
@Craig Merry
I’m not an expert and have had my first pair for about two years, but my impression is that the hearing aid technology has been transformed in recent years.
I got mine at age 58. I love them. Kaiser Permanente paid for about half the cost. I call them my ‘bionic ears.’
8
Please write more articles on hearing aids, articles that give more advice and more details.
If Warren is nominated, and if the people setting the terms of the debate are reasonable, then Warren will outclass, outthink, and outtalk Trump. She is so much smarter!
30
The most popular hearing aids will be programmable to cut out all voices you don't agree with.
12
There was a mention of a Bose product, but many CVS (and available online as well at Amazon.com) carries the iHear Treo. About $300 per ear and quite good.
Want an actual hearing aid? IHear sells an FDA approved test you can take at home and use to program a hearing aid with (iHear Max). Google it, easy to find, inexpensive and can make a huge difference in your life.
7
My hearing aids are incredibly cool. I show them off to everyone. I reclaim and redefine any stigma!
And I can hear again.
9
Hearing aids should also come with GPS trackers. My mother-in-law has lost her hearing aids on multiple occasions. Given how expensive they are, it would be great for them to be trackable: "Find my hearing aid."
25
Hearing aids have an app just like that to help me find where they are.
Newer hearing aids with Bluetooth have a “find my hearing aid” feature that allows you to locate your hearing aid when you’re somewhat close to them.
1
My hearing aids have an app that tracks where they are and where they were the last time I had them on.
1
I just began wearing hearing aids this year. I have the $6000 kind — not really noticeable but a bit uncomfortable and certainly I am always aware they are there. My audiologist insisted that she knew what product was best for me and even acted offended when I suggested I might try a different pair; after all she is the professional! And I was too timid to object.
I am 63 years old and work in a field populated by people my age as well as younger. Yet I am terrified of being found out. (I also hide them from my husband and kids.) Sure, I listened to tons of loud music in my life but hearing loss was and still is a shock to me. And even though I suspect there is a genetic component (both parents used them) I am pretty devastated by this situation.
But this article has given me a bit of hope; more hope than I’ve felt in a while. I know for a fact that many of my friends (including my husband) suffer from hearing loss. We joke about it all the time among ourselves but no one except me has actually taken the leap. There is a terrible stigma at work here. We don’t think twice about wearing glasses. Why are hearing aids so different and what can be done to change this? How about celebrities or musicians becoming spokespersons or doing public service announcements? Even better if they could be sporting the coolest fashions in hearing aids. Seriously, you know there has got to be at least a handful of rock stars or celebrities out there who wear them....
24
@kwibbles My husband was dead set against my getting hearing aids at the age of 50. I lost my hearing after a virus that affected my auditory nerves. Now he gets irritated when I don't wear them because it's annoying to try to talk to me. Hearing is still not perfect, but I have no problem telling people I don't hear well and they are always gracious and interested in the reason and the devices because they are all but invisible. Try just putting it out there - you'll be surprised.
4
@kwibbles After experiencing autoimmune inner ear disease with associated hearing loss, I waited far too many years before I purchased hearing aids. The hearing aids are costly, but I have never paid my audiologist (who has a solo practice) for the countless hours she has spent with me adjusting my hearing aids to accommodate my fluctuating hearing loss. It has taken awhile to adjust to wearing hearing aids, both physically and emotionally. What has been key for me is to wear them consistently each day from the time I wake up until I prepare for bed. I do not allow myself to put them in and out throughout the day. Over time I have found that most days I wear them well with little or no awareness while there are other days where they bother me endlessly. I do not feel stigmatized; no one can see my aids as they are hidden by my hair. I do feel really sad at times as I would love to once again have perfect hearing, but mostly I am grateful for modern technology, and the love of a sister who has helped financially to make it possible for me to hear.
1
I purchased hearing aids and I am so grateful for them that I tell lots of people. Since my hair is over my ears, they don’t really even show.
Hearing aids are nothing like glasses. Did you ever go to an optician and have them say, "OK, we have three kinds of eyeglasses. You can choose the ones that let you see 25 feet, the ones that are good for 100 feet, and then the expensive ones that show you everything."
When you buy hearing aids, you have to choose what quality you can afford.
8
Always protect your hearing. Ever since my "late youth" I never went out to a party or club without those green foam earplugs. They are great for everything except very loud percussive sounds like at a firing range, artillery, and working closely with jet engines.
Respect your ears, and I believe they will respect you back. Then, as we age, I just hope the technology gets better and better and better.
We do not near yet have the hearing equivalent of what perfect spectacles or contact lenses do. I hope some day we do. I would hate to think of living without Beethoven's piano sonatas -- and yes, I know he went deaf but, ahem: I ain't Beethoven!
6
I did not go to rock concerts or subject myself to a lot of loud noises when I was younger, but I have significant hearing loss. My mother had hearing loss, and two of my three siblings do. It’s hereditary. Please do not act as though you can still hear because you’re smarter than people with hearing loss.
Hooray for Senators Warren and Grassley. Now let’s see a lot more money allocated to research on hearing loss. Perhaps someday doctors will find a way for the cilia to regrow in our ears. Or they’ll find some other remedy that will not just amplify sound, but will also enable us to distinguish consonants more clearly.
Thank you for this article.
27
@Coopmindy
That is not what I meant. These are nasty times we live in that you would think that is what I meant -- I am smarter??
Please show some benefit of doubt. Hearing issues as of course endogenic and exogenic.
All I was trying to say is, take care of your ears. And the hope I mentioned -- that the technology get better and better for all of us -- was meant to apply to all of us because this is a serious issue.
I am sorry I mucked up my comment. I still think it is a worthwhile message -- protect your hearing -- but I failed because my comment communicated that hearing issues are caused by not caring.
Did you really think that is what I meant? Really?
Here in Finland, when you reach a certain age, the health service gives you an examination and if you need earing aids they come free of charge and every five years subsequently, you are entitled to a new pair, with new tests to make sure they are properly adjusted to personal needs. As a former New Yorker I find the contrast with my former health problems in NYC rather pleasing. Finland, in general, is somewhat deprived in the matter of nuclear missiles or overseas military bases but having a reasonable capability to hear properly strikes me as a reasonable compensation.
133
@Jan Sand
I mostly agree with your sentiments....but.....I must point out that one reason Finland (and most of western Europe) can afford such generous welfare is that it has been a free-rider on the nuclear missiles and overseas military bases paid for by another country.
6
@Jeff
The military hardware is even more overpriced than the hearing aids. Do they also make hearing aid components in every congressional district in the United States?
13
@Jeff
Given that the missiles and bases are utterly useless - think Maginot Line - I think Finland has made the correct choice.
5
The reason hearing aids are not covered by almost any insurance plan is pretty obvious: so many people need them, especially as they grow older, that the companies don't want to cover them. Insurance rates would surely skyrocket if they were covered generally.
By the way, the Canadian system is head and shoulders above the US's, but not on this score. You should know that up here in Ontario hearing aids are not covered by our single payer system. Neither are glasses, though the eye exam is. Makes getting older just a wee bit harder, even with an allegedly universal health care system...
8
Having just gotten hearing aids myself, all I can say is *Amen!* with regard to making a range of "over the counter" devices available without exam.
I knew I needed to have one, and today's digital programmable hearing aids are "microcomputers on steroids" as far as what get's packed into a very small package.
In my case, I selected a color called "cinnamon," which is really more of a copper pearl/metallic for my aids because I don't want them to "disappear" should I take them out somewhere in the house where I normally wouldn't. But I can't say that anyone else will likely notice them as they tuck right above the top of my ear and just hide naturally in that position.
In the end, though, if you know that you need hearing aids, and can afford them (which is a stretch for many, including me), it's worth it to see an audiologist for a full hearing evaluation which allows for both a better selection of the correct aid as well as allowing them to be configured "just for you," which is far more important than many think.
Also, don't wait until you've had hearing problems for decades, as getting aids after that long generally results in you "being driven crazy" by actually being able to hear normally or nearly normally again - often resulting in rejection of the aids. Just like glasses, we should start using hearing aids when we realize we need them (or our loved ones are clearly indicating that we do).
8
Go to Costco! For $1,700 I got an excellent set of their house brand hearing aids and wonderful care by their hearing specialist. (I had seen an audiologist months before and knew that my hearing needed a boost.) They also offer a 9 month satisfaction guarantee. That sealed the deal for me.
I have been very happy with the service and the product. Apparently Costco is one of the biggest hearing aid sellers in the US and I like that the service providers I dealt with were NOT on commission.
18
I have a hearing issue but hear pretty much what I want to hear and can look confused concerning the rest. This act is a good thing and I appreciate the effort that went into getting it passed.
5
The complexity of a laptop, phone, tablet, DVD player, etc. grossly exceeds that of a hearing aid. Yet the current cost for hearing aids exceeds or equals the cost of those devices.
There is a simple explanation for this puzzle : corporate greed and governmental regulation created a niche market. No vendor wants to disrupt the market with an affordable device.
From an engineering perspective a mass marketed hearing aid ought to cost as much as a pocket calculator....not $300 !!!
39
Wow. This is excellent. Congratulations to Sens. Warren and Grassley for cooperating on a bill that could make a big difference for a large segment of our population. With babyboomers getting older by the day, and many young people listening to music that is louder than is good for human ears, the need for hearing devices will only increase. Hopefully there is some mechanism within the bill that will help ensure that the various devices do what they claim to do. Hearing loss can be very isolating. Of course in many situations it will be necessary to see a trained audiologist and wear very advanced hearing aides. But making a larger range of devices more available and less costly seems like a plus for many people.
7
it's a lovely and thoughtful idea to make hearing aids cool, as glasses seemingly have become!
decorative hearing aids perhaps combined with an ear cuff or other jewelry could be beautiful.
8
Inexpensive, effective hearing aids have been around for several years now. Many comments mentioned Costco's. I've been using Audicus aids purchased through audicus.com. They offer in-canal style for moderate hearing loss and discrete external aids for more severe loss. You can e.mail hearing test data to them or take their on-line test using ear buds. All their models cost between $500 and 600 per aid.
7
That was my last provider. Great prices, terrible turnaround time for service (1-2 weeks without an aid makes a difference). Be nice if they where programmable at home. I go to Costco for the test, then send it to Audicus.
Full hearing aids are available at Costco for $2600 per pair with free follow ups, adjustments etc. no wonder they sell more hearing aids than anyone else in the US. I am a very satisfied customer.
8
I have normal hearing in the lower and middle ranges and moderate traumatic hearing loss in the upper range. I also have hyperacusis and tinnitus. For years audiologists told me there was nothing to be done. Finally, last month, I found an audiologist who fitted me with hearing aids. They changed my life. They are programmed to my specific hearing loss, so they only amplify what I can't hear. Yeah, they cost $5,600, but It's some of the best money I've ever spent. They come with free batteries, a free yearly exam, free adjustments and a warranty. The latest technology is light years beyond my dad's hearing aids of 20 years ago. I doubt an OTC product would have anywhere near the same benefit. Also, they're hardly noticable. The list of negative health effects of hearing loss is long and worrisome, beginning with an increased risk of dementia.
11
Over 60 but needed hearing aids since grade school. Finally got them and I am daily thrilled by the improvement. Off the shelf would never have worked, my binaural loss is too great for anything but multi-channel FFT (explanation too long). I am amazed by the Beatles, I missed 2/3rds of the music as a teen. Muddled, Beethoven’s 9th sounded good. With hearing aids, it sounds amazing. With other ailments, people notice my Stetson and ignore the silver hearing aids. They match what is left of my hair.
10
OTC hearing aids are a TERRIBLE idea, and after hearing that Warren sponsored this idea I am doubting that she researches her topics as well as I thought.
OTC hearing aids would make it possible for anyone with hearing loss to mask this without being seen by an audiologist or physician. Nevermind that the hearing loss may be treatable, or may represent any number of conditions that need to be diagnosed, including tumors.
COVERAGE for hearing aids is a different issue and should not be mixed into an argument for making hearing aids OTC.
@svetik I disagree. Hearing aids have always been a ripoff. Modern miniaturized microphones, noise reduction circuitry and extremely high quality transducers, like those in high quality earbuds, can solve a huge range of hearing problems, especially age-related hearing loss, which usually results in threshold loss at high frequencies at first and speech frequencies as the loss advances.
But for those with mild losses, there's no reason to pay thousands of dollars because the ubiquity of ear buds and the like has brought the cost of the technology way down. More severe hearing loss is another matter.
An annual physical can check for tumors and the like.
8
@Martin Brooks
I agree that an annual check up is necessary. People without healthcare often skip this. A developed country in the 21st century with uninsured citizens is a country with serious moral issues.
I just got a set of hearing aids and do not find them to be a rip off. I can now hear people in the back of the room whom I absolutely must hear to performer my job effectively. Hearing aids will not restore my hearing and it’s true that they simply act as a microphone with a speaker. Noise reduction technology will not be of use to me.
1
@James
I suspect that, since you are employed, a "rip off" has a different meaning than for someone on a fixed income.
My hearing aids are barely noticeable.
Unfortunately my coworkers, once seeing them, decided it would be best to shout at me, thinking I couldn’t hear them, which was the furthest thing from the truth.
I had to keep lowering the volume on my aids to accommodate my co workers.
It was best that I just didn’t wear them.
The biggest problem is not how they look, but the reaction from others , thinking that you can’t hear.
( even with them in!)
4
DW has severe hearing losses and tinnitus. At some point we just decided that we'd do anything to alleviate this hearing loss so we got the first of many sets of HA's. Each generation has help but the HA designs still have plenty of room to improve. They are expensive, no question. One set, for an unknown reason, also gave her some relief from the tinnitus. Time for some serious R&D since millions are coming and they will having hearing loss. Maybe the cell phone electronics gurus will get involved and develop some great software, some ultra micro circuits and renewable power for us so we can hear and see their phones.
7
Please please please stop comparing hearing aids to reading glasses. Reading glasses are magnifiers for those with Presbyopia. Conductive hearing loss is similar, and can often be “corrected”, sound magnified, pretty well with simple amplification. Those with conductive hearing loss are a very small number of those who can benefit from amplification. The far greater number are those with sensorineural hearing loss. With this type of the loss the auditory nerve, with it’s very complicated system of frequency specific hair cells sending discreet signals to the brain, is impaired. Simple magnification is not enough.
12
I have been wearing hearing aids for more than 30 years. I am soon to be 80, have a host of chronic diseases, diabetes, cancer, and the list goes on. I live a very full and enjoyable life, travel around the world, and still work full time. . In speaking to my audiologist I indicated that hearing loss is my most difficult medical issue. Let me repeat, hearing loss has impacted my life the most. Hearing aids work. Without them, one becomes very isolated.
29
Today's hearing aides = the black rotary Bakelite phone that lasted for decades until deregulation hit the telephone industry. Now I'm not a fan of deregulation generally, but that time, we nailed it. Rotary to touch-tone dialing, wired (the long cord was heaven - don't tangle it!) to cordless handsets - then wireless, now smartphones.
Do it with hearing aides. Unleash our innovative spirit.
13
I can see people just fine without my glasses. I cannot hear people just fine without my hearing aids. Big difference. Without them I feel much more disconnected from the world around me than I do without my glasses. So, they are more essential. Yet for many of us, hearing loss is insidious, creeping up gradually. That means that we go for years not hearing all that is important. The costs, 4-6 thousand dollars are ridiculous for those of us with ordinary incomes. There are far less expensive alternatives, Costco being the most popular and providing a product comparable to those priced much higher. I had hearing tests done by an audiologist in an ENT practice and done at Costco; results were the same. Price was not, Costco being free. I saw no need to pursue the higher-priced route.
17
"There I am, sitting on the 1 train downtown, hearing no sound except the soft music of one of Chopin’s nocturnes for piano."
Then I guess Prof. Boylan that you would miss the garbled announcement telling riders that service between X and Y is cancelled because of some reason and riders have to leave the train and catch another at the other side of the platform or leave the station altogether and take or bus or that their train will go only as far as X and not Y.
In all seriousness though, buying a hearing aid over the counter is like buying (prescription ) glasses over the counter. Not a great idea.
The solution is to make them, as well as the visit to the audiologist covered by insurance, as is the case in many many countries, and not to sell them like cough drops.
15
Take it from me, don't wait too long to get them like I did. If you do, you lose your ability to recognize the sound of words, and will always need to face whomever is speaking to read their lips. I'm 71, and have had mine now for about 15 years, and while not perfect, they allow me to socialize. Costco is the best deal out there, and anytime you need anything, you can drop into any warehouse in their system for help. I do not get why people would ever be embarrassed to wear them - after all, they help us hear, as glasses help us see; on the other hand, I am not very vain, and appreciate being able to join in conversation. Most health plans allow for a hearing test, and they are included at Costco - don't wait - you are missing out on a lot, and be sure whatever you decide on has a trial period.
21
@CC Yes, Costco is great. And Kirkland Brands. while not $300, are relatively cheap and function well. In fact, they function better than my expensive original pair. Here in Xalapa, you get a free, careful hearing evaluation, too.
7
whether they are cool or not is irrelevant. whether they are covered by insurance is relevant.
41
@No name
Bringing the price down from $4k to $300 will make insurance coverage possible. Good times coming...
7
@GM No, $300 will make them so that most people won't need their insurance. The majority of people have high deductible plans and probably wouldn't receive anything even if the insurance companies did cover it.
4
This is such good news, not only for people with hearing loss, but for those around them. My father, a farmer, had hearing loss, probably from unprotected driving of tractors for much of his life, if not the six years he was in the navy through WWII. In his 60's, he tried hearing aids. They were expensive and didn't work well. He felt ripped off and all but gave up on them.
He died aged 88, and in his last years it was hard to converse with him. Shouting works for a few short phrases, but for a real conversation it's just not sustainable. I so missed being able to talk with him. It's a sorrow that's not diminished in the decade since he died, but I am greatly cheered to know that technology improvements and this legislation will help others avoid such distress in the future.
29
I’ve been wondering about this for a long time. Why are glasses socially acceptable, but hearing aids are a sign of deep decrepitude?
9
@Walker 77 Actually, as you age, you tend to hang out with your birth group unless you are a politician or an actor. I am eighty years old and I see many of my friends and acquaintances wearing these hi-tech gizmos. I am not decrepit; I sing in a church choir and attend classical music concerts. In sum, one does what one needs to do to participate in life. Forget the stigma of ancient age.
2
@Walker 77 Actually, as you age, you tend to hang out with your birth group unless you are a politician or an actor. I am eighty years old and I see many of my friends and acquaintances wearing these hi-tech gizmos. I am not decrepit; I sing in a church choir and attend classical music concerts. In sum, one does what one needs to do to participate in life. Forget the stigma of ancient age.
@Walker 77 ,
Times have changed. 60 or so years ago I had the dubious distinction of being the first kid in my second grade class to need glasses. I was called "Four Eyes" and teased unmercifully. By the time my niece was a child 20 years later, she WANTED glasses that she didn't need because it was cool!
I’ve learned from my audiologist that there are two types of hearing loss - one is a volume thing, the other is the inability to distinguish certain sounds. I’ve always had the latter, compensating by contextually interpreting what is being said (well, fox doesn’t make sense, so she must have said socks).
Then I got older and volume became a problem. My health insurance offered hearing aids for a fraction of the cost of what my audiologist was offering. So I did what any sane person would do - got the cheaper option.
I heard better, but HATED them. I won’t go into all the reasons why, but finally decided to go with the sooo expensive alternatives.
The day I was fitted with them, right there in the cramped little room with my audiologist, I cried. Hugged her. I love her. I didn’t care how much they cost, the difference was night and day.
A sound startled me later that day. What’s that, I asked my son, grabbing his arm. What’s what, he asked, looking around. Over there, I pointed. He gave me that look that only a son can give. Um, a bird? I cried again and listened some more.
They’re Bluetooth, too, my bionic ears. My kids are jealous, and want their own. You can get Bluetooth earphones for cheaper, I tell them.
So I have one more reason to love Liz. Competition will make hearing aids like mine way cheaper. And she’ll get these thing to be covered by all heath insurers or via Medicare for all. And there will be many people crying with joy, like me.
88
@Joyce
what did you buy that worked so well? i have hearing aids but they are so-so. i have the second type of hearing loss mostly and a bit of the volume thing.
5
@Susan
My are made by ReSound. Ask your audiologist. I’m sure there are other brands. Be prepared for at least $5K per pair.
@Joyce
Yes, please share with us the brand and model of your device. Good to be informed....
1
Before purchasing any hearing aid, whether it comes from an audiologist or a retail store, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE see your doctor first. If your doctor recommends and audiological evaluation, do it. You need to know the cause of your loss. Sometimes it is just impacted ear wax that needs to be cleaned out. Other times it could be something very serious like a tiny little tumor called an acoustic neuroma. And also PLEASE make sure you have a trial period during which you can try the aid and return it if it is not helping you. Most - if not all - states have laws to require at least a 30-day trial period. This law will not help me, but I hope it helps millions of others with mild-moderate losses. And yes, let's continue to work on coverage of all hearing aids. Medicare does not consider them durable medical equipment, but I need them more than I need my walker!
35
Didn’t know about these over the counter hearing devices until now. Chances are most people haven’t either, which means more education is needed. It’s such a simple and obvious thing to do. Open up the competition as well and bring prices down at the same time. AARP and other organizations should launch a campaign petition to get Congress to include coverage under Medicare/ Medicaid now!
7
I got my first hearing aids about a year ago. I am 55 and love them. I am not ashamed to wear them at all. It is far more embarrassing to say “excuse me, can repeat that?” all the time. They stream my phone, which actually works, and allow me to participate in every social situation.
Hearing is not just a convenience. Those who don’t hear lose cognitive functioning. The law should be changed so insurance must cover hearing aids. This should be part of any health care law.
43
All senses are important but sight and hearing are critically important. Checking sight annually is commonly done by most health conscious person. Baby boomers need to get their hearing checked annually after a certain age. One may or may not need a hearing aid but it is important to get it confirmed.
8
I'm a high school school counselor and when I started using my hearing aids I thought the kids would think I was an old toady. Usually they're surprised when they notice them which isn't often. The great thing is that hearing aids allow me to communicate with students and colleagues, something that I couldn't do well before I started using them. I have a love/hate affair with the things but they've changed my life in positive ways. If you can't hear well, bite the bullet and get them. I wish insurance covered the cost because hearing well is important to overall health.
15
Apparently those conspicuous Apple wireless EarPods are so popular that somebody is selling fake ones that don’t do anything at all except make it look like you’re wearing them.
Make them shiny white, black, or gold and the problem is solved!
Sell something that functions both as noise canceling wireless ear phones and also as a hearing aid and nobody would be able to tell the difference. I suspect the electronics are probably pretty similar it’s just the software that’s different.
7
I've been completely deaf in one ear since I was a teenager. (Mumps. Get your MMR vacination. They didn't have such a thing when I was young. My life would be better if there had been.)
I got my first hearing aid when I was in my 40s, a BI-CROS. Didn't do much good. As my hearing deteriorated in my good ear, I got a series of aids, none of which helped. I still had a hard time carrying on a conversation under any but ideal circumstances.
Finally, I purchased a set of HearPhones. Cost less than an eighth of what I was used to paying. Since the day I put them on, I have not worn my expensive audiologist-fitted hearing aids. For the first time, I can talk to people in restaurants, at parties, in crowded meetings, and the cashier in the checkout line. My wife and I can carry on a conversation in the car.
I now enjoy being with people. My wife says my personality has changed. HearPhones are blantant, but I could care less. I have hearing aids that are practically invisible, but these help me to hear.
My experience may not be yours, but they are worth a try.
21
I also have hearing aids that are pretty well invisible which cost my insurance company almost $5000 and I quit wearing them because they didn’t help enough to be worth the trouble of cleaning the wax out, changing the batteries (which are not cheap) and having to take them out when I eat so they won’t pop out of my ears. Overall I think contact lenses are many times more beneficial. Contact lenses have made my life much better over the last 40 years that I’ve worn them and they are affordable even if you don’t have vision insurance. On the other hand, my brother, who has severe hearing loss due to cancer when he was a teenager, has hearing aids which allow him to communicate pretty well and he would be completely deaf without them. I’m probably going to have to try some of the OTC devices.
4
Thank goodness for Costco. First quality hearing aids for about one-half of the street price.
45
@Mary Ann. And they’re top-rated by Consumer Reports!
13
Thank you Ms. Boylan and thank you Senator Warren. The hearing aids I now wear cost over $4,000. One of my Chinese guests at my AirB&B told me that she could get similar products in China for much, much less. So why are they so much cheaper in China (where they are probably made)? The answer is greed.
And will I be less of a problem for society if I hear better? Indeed I will. I will hear cars behind me when I walk to my vehicle in big parking lots. Most people don't think that when they approach me from behind, I really don't hear them.
I will be better able to follow instructions during meetings. I will better understand when some one warns me of a danger in my path. I will be a better member of society in general.
I think that Elizabeth Warren understands that. Apparently, she sees more people in distress than some other candidates.
37
Having insurance cover hearing aids will ultimately reduce the costs of dementia, psychosis and depression that people with hearing loss suffer, and those are all way more expensive than hearing aids.
107
If anyone comes up with hearing aids that don't look like flesh colored medical devices and have bluetooth and are cool and work they will make a bazillion dollars. I'm waiting.....
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@Diane Graves You don’t have to wait - what you describe is already available. I second the above advice to go to Costco.
12
If they really work their appearance is not that important.
1
I heard a rumor that Apple is working on that.
I am severely hearing impaired. I see an audiologist, wear expensive and effective hearing aids, and read lips as well. My only concern in reading this article is a worry that people who self diagnose a problem and self treat may be missing some underlying issue that does require diagnosis and professional care. It seems obvious from the evidence that attention to hearing health does help stave off dementia. Why not make routine audiology appointments free or very low cost? Seems like it should be a national priority!
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About 20 years ago I wrote a letter to Siemens -then - and maybe now - the worlds largest maker of hearing aids. I suggested that they make them pretty, stylish, interesting etc -- made to be seen.
That folks of my age would be far more into that.
And incidentally, I complained about how difficult the controls were - especially for old fingers ( I learned from trying to help my mother adjust to a pair). I explained that no one wants plastic ear pieces in revolting grey-pink plastic.
I have also tried one of the personal hearing devices - a lot to be desired, but then it didn;t cost #$3000 or $6000, either.
I understand that some devices can be controlled with smartphones. a great idea, but many will need something yet simpler. But still something that can be adjusted in hand with the hearing devices in the ear.
You're right the OTC Hearing Aid Act is a start. And it is beyond the time for competition =to enter the picture, making useful hearing aids available for the price of a smartphone. There is No reason this shouldn't be the case.
There are millions out there who need hearing assistance and cannot afford it. And no earthly reason why we are protecting the incomes of a few while many suffer.
17
It's interesting to read all the positive comments about hearing aids. My mother got very expensive hearing aids while she was in her 80's, and I always felt like they were terrible: the batteries were continually wearing out and were difficult to insert especially for an elderly person with arthritis and failing vision; loud sounds or sounds with certain frequencies caused her to jump; she lost her ha's multiple times when they fell out of her ears. As her hearing progressively deteriorated, her audiologist would prescribe new very expensive hearing aids, but they did not seem to work. The whole hearing aid deal started seeming like a scam on the elderly. She was fortunate to have the means to pay for them, but $4k per ear was tantamount to theft.
54
@Janet Thank you. Many of my friends have purchased hearing aids; they do not wear them because the aids cause more problems than they solve.
It is imperative that we improve the technology, including the ease of use, of these devises.
Though I also need a hearing aid, I hesitate to see an audiologist and go through the process, not because I am concerned they will not look attractive, but because, as was the experience of my friends and of Janet's mother, I do not think they will help.
13
@SPK
I love my expensive hearing aids. They are certainly not perfect but they keep me in the loop socially, professionally, and allow me to take part in my community. I would be so isolated w/o them. Just make sure before you purchase them from an audiologist or OTC that you have at least a 30-day trial period and can return them if they don't help.
12
@SPK I have used hearing aids since my adolescence and I assure you that they solve infinitely more problems than they cause. I am so grateful for the technology. They are not perfect but are life-changing for many of us. Even in the last ten years I have noticed a tremendous improvement in the quality and capabilities. Just keep in mind that their success is in part dependent on the skill of the audiologist who is customizing them to your chart. Also, it's worth noting that there is an adjustment period. It is psychologically taxing to get used to hearing new sounds. People who do not use them daily tend not to adjust as easily; this is especially true for older folks.
11
Try making analog hearing aids for musicians. My husband gave up wearing his when playing guitar as they only make it worse to hear his instrument. It can't be rocket science to make this technology available in North America. #veryfrustrated #sad
9
I get all kinds of mail from companies that want me to have a "Free hearing test". But I know there is no free lunch. They will do their best to diagnose me as needing hearing aids which will cost w.o. Medicare between $1000. & $1200. a pair.
Thanks to the VA I can get them almost free.
6
My father had hearing aids. The first pair, which he got from a well known hospital in NYC, were a totally in ear pair that drove him crazy. I think they probably cost $3000 seven years ago. Every time he needed an adjustment, he had to trek into the city. For his second pair, I convinced him to go to Costco based on online reviews. They were an over the ear type which better suited him. The team in the store could not have been better in dealing with his concerns too. The best part, they were less than $2000.
26
Got hearing aids in March. Part covered by insurance, part not. Costly but very much worth it. But there needs to be a way for this technology to be available to all who need it at a price that’s affordable.
33
$5,000.00 for hearing aids is a giant rip off. A simple phone is multiples more complex than a hearing aid and it cost less than $100.00. Go figure. The OTC move will drive prices down for these devices because millions more people will now be able to afford and purchase the aids. If you want to sell aids in that OTC market you will have to be able to compete. Good for Warren and Grassley.
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@wilt
One thing we can be sure of is somewhere in Washington there is a lobby working assiduously to prevent hearing devices become more affordable and also against insurance coverage which would likely drive the price down.
8
@wilt
Hearing aids are incredibly complex. The good one amplify the sounds and frequencies a person has trouble hearing while dampening others. And mine are so small and well designed that almost no one knows I have them—though I’m quite open about it. I’m not saying they aren’t overpriced—I don’t know—but they are a highly complex and miniaturized computer.
4
Having health insurance change from my employer co sponsored plan and all extras one could afford to Medicare was a very rude awakening during my husband's incredible journey when hospital in error injected iodine in his veins and caused organ failure and years of complications.
But nothing floored me as nearly 18 years later he needs a hearing aid after many tests he cannot hear well unless person near Diagnosed By qualified specialists
Medicare law does not cover hearing aids and the specialized one he needs to be good is $2500. there is one perhaps for 2000.
I wonder if your old article covered this. I am trying to get hospital and specialist to name this product. (There are much more expensive ones) to see where else could we purchase it. In Cabada where?
Hearing is very important. Thank you. I hope someone in government fixes this ------do they know? Why would an elderly person suffer without hearing?
Not only are tests and meds furthervrestricted by age as a person ages no matter in what condition a person is excellent or poor: .And limits in therapy applt.
. And not hearing? Go find $2000 to $2500.
Do Sander and Warren know this?
Thank you
4
Hearing loss leads to dementia. It's been proven in multiple studies.
"Individuals with moderate to severe hearing loss are up to 5 times as likely to develop dementia. According to several major studies, older adults with hearing loss—especially men— are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and dementia, compared to those with normal hearing. Men with hearing loss were 69 percent more likely to develop dementia than those with no hearing impairment. The risk escalates as a person's hearing loss worsens. Those with mild hearing impairment are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those with normal hearing. The risk increases three-fold for those with moderate hearing loss, and five-fold for those with severe impairment."
https://www.beltone.com/en-us/hearing-loss/types-and-causes-of-hearing-loss/alzheimers-and-hearing-loss
22
@TR
So true. The cognitive decline that accompanies loss of intellectual stimulation from conversation and even from hearing music is a serious health issue.
Thanks for what you wrote.
18
@TR
Please post references to the multiple studies linking the loss of aural stimulation as a cause of Alzheimer's disease. Peer reviewed, please.
The absence of stimulation and a decline in cognition, perhaps. But the lack of hearing aids leading to organic brain disease?
3
I resent that being hard of hearing is something to be ashamed of. It's unpleasant for you and those round you, but nothing to be ashamed of.
17
@Fred Vaslow
It’s associated with aging. Glasses are not. Why do millions spend money on facelifts and hair dye? If you don’t want the cultural stigma of being old, skip the hearing aids, or at least use discreet ones. Or so think many.
3
I have moderate hearing loss, was fitted for hearing aids and decided against them due to the cost. This bill would do exactly what I need, lower the cost of all hearing aids.
8
Hearing aids are medical devices. It's absurd and dangerous to put them in OTC sales. Underlying conditions that could cause hearing loss, temporary or permanent, will go untreated.
Moreover, moving a medical device from prescription to OTC is how insurance companies get around reimbursement.
Bad idea at all levels.
7
@CL
The choice for many people is not an OTC aid versus see a physician and get a prescription aid.
For many the choice is a) OTC aid or b) nothing. Their condition will go untreated anyway. At least they get to hear.
4
The idea that bearing aids should be stylish is ridiculous. They should be imperceptible. This is the norm for most devices that fit in or behind your ear. I've been wearing them for over a decade and most people don't notice at all. The problem with over the counter hearing aids is that hearing loss is like vision i.e. very personal - the amount of loss is very often frequency dependant and variable. The better solution is to make the expense of hearing aids part of insurance. As they become more widely used costs will come down significantly.
26
@David
I wish I could recommend this one a hundred times.
Many people put off getting hearing aids because all the ones you see people wearing are ugly, bulky things.
But most modern hearing aids--like the ones I wear--are close to invisible.
Plenty of people you assume aren't wearing hearing aids actually are!
When I finally scraped up the ~$5000 for them, I became part of the world again. No more nodding politely while desperately trying to guess what a conversation's about from random words caught here and there.
Let's siphon off a few million from every billionaire and put it toward letting all Americans with hearing loss re-join the world.
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@MLChadwick
With all of the technology out there there is no reason hearing aides need to cost $5,000. It is highway robbery
20
@Jean Mine cost about that. They are also the bluetooth, programmable ones. I could have spent less for ones with less features, but I "treated myself."
1
@MLChadwick NO ONE ever notices my hearing aids. My friends/family DO notice I have stopped saying, "WHAT?" constantly. I too did the nod and smile thing for a few decades...only to later ask someone who was in the conversation, "What did they say?"
Watching television with the closed captioning? No thanks. :-) Those days are over.
Added bonus: My audiologist is a dead ringer for Bradley Cooper!
3
I was very grateful when I got my HAs five years ago that our family insurance covered a generous portion of the cost. My more recent set was covered at a lesser amount. My loss is mild/moderate, but hearing aids have made a very positive impact on my life. It pains me to realize that future upgrades or replacement will hit me full in the pocketbook, since Medicare looms on the horizon. Certainly otc hearing aids won’t serve everyone well, but it’s better for many. Audiologists probably are are panicking about “lost” patients that likely wouldn’t have ever darkened their office door. Hearing loss can be easily (and crankily) denied by many. Help folks try on hearing assistance at a more reasonable price!
11
I'm actually surprised more people don't need hearing aids after they have spent decades at loud concerts and events. I was always careful to wear earplugs. The only reason I mention this is that the ambient noise level in general has gone up and I suspect that people have tolerated it only because they have lost so much hearing.
18
@Michael Stillings
Also I cannot believe seeing people using leaf blowers, lawn mowers, shop vacs etc without ear protection. It is not good.
And my neighbor had a gas-powered backpack leaf blower on his back and his infant son strapped to his chest.
Unacceptable, and I told him so.
7
I am 86 and have just spent more than $6000 for a new pair of premium Widex hearing aids. I saw an excellent audiologist who tested me and fitted me--my hearing has improved significantly--I was working extremely hard to hear and my hearing loss was considerable. Of course I wish that my insurance plan would have covered some of the cost. An over-the-counter aid would not have been adequate to my needs.
9
I was lucky & got hearing aids on Medicare. One of the things I learned that impressed me is that, unlike glasses, you shouldn't just put them in when you need them, you should wear them at least 10 hours a day or else you'll still lose hearing to unused nerves. I thought maybe it was a scam to get you to buy batteries but now many professionals have told me the same thing. It's great not having to say, Excuse me? or Sorry? all the time.
15
I was lucky & got hearing aids on Medicare. One of the things I learned that impressed me is that, unlike glasses, you shouldn't just put them in when you need them, you should wear them at least 10 hours a day or else you'll still lose hearing to unused nerves. I thought maybe it was a scam to get you to buy batteries but now many professionals have told me the same thing. It's great not having to say, Excuse me? or Sorry? all the time.
3
While most elderly people want/need insurance for possible catastrophic illness, it is the yearly grind of dealing with the essentials of daily life that can be the most debilitating. Medicare covers yearly eye exams, but it’s the glasses that matter most. Hearing deteriorates, and those hearing aids are expensive. Most of them have a life expectancy of five years. So imagine you are on a fixed budget, i.e. Social Security. Try navigating life with inferior glasses and hearing aids.
31
The number of Americans with hearing loss is more likely to increase than decrease over the next decade. An unintended consequence of selling over-the-counter hearings devices is each sale is a new data point that will support R&D for more innovative hearing devices.
6
I was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss 10 years ago at the age of 43. When I began to look at hearing aids I was appalled to learn that they were not covered by insurance because they were labeled cosmetic! Research has shown that hearing loss can lead to depression and social isolation, especially for older folks. I am thrilled that the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act passed. It is long over due. Now if we can just get hearing aids covered by insurance!
95
I think having insurance, including Medicaid/Medicare, cover hearing aids, would do more to is bring down costs and assure people get quality devices rather than selling them over the counter.
45
@Raindrop Strongly agree. It is much better that people are able to get a medical exam, and whatever recommended devices (and customizations) for free. How will people know they have moderate to severe loss and require complex hearing aids, not OTC devices, if they are not able to visit the doctor?
2
Let's hear it for hearing aids! Forget the stigma, forget about looking old -- these are wonderful devices. If PSAPs work for you, fine - but they're not a substitute for getting tested by an audiologist and having hearing aids selected and adjusted to your specific hearing losses. No question, though, that these personalized devices should be covered by insurance and much, much cheaper.
41
I'm surprised that more readers haven't commented on this...I'm 46 and have OK hearing...but I know many folks in their 60s and older who are experiencing hearing loss. But vanity prevents them from getting hearing aids. Maybe because I grew up on a farm and worked for John Deere for some years...I think most farmers and folks that had noise as part of their job now have hearing loss. Guess the Times really is read by the white collars.
11
@Dreena i saw nothing in this article that precludes farmers -- or anyone else -- from being part of those whose hearing loss should be covered.
I've always wondered about that, why hearing aids aren't covered by insurance, and why dental coverage is so poor. All these things are so interconnected to living a healthy, decent life, and the republicans treat them as luxuries. Maybe everyone would get along a little better if they could hear what the other person is saying, lol.
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@Fred Rodgers some insurance companies do reimburse them.
4
@Fred Rodgers. Because ears and teeth aren’t body parts. ;) That’s why!
8
@Fred Rodgers
I don’t want to hear what McConnell has to say. He certainly never listened to me.
9
THANK YOU for covering this, Professor Boylan! I (and many Times readers I'm sure) would argue hearing examinations and devices should be covered by universal healthcare, which would allow every person to access treatment and the best devices for them.
We do need to normalize healthcare devices and disability aids. Is it the most important thing in the world that healthcare is "cute?" Of course not--it's important that it works. But many of us have to carry these items with us everywhere we go. It's not wrong to ask for a design that brings us a little bit of joy.
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@E Rizk
I think it’s coming...remember when casts came only in white and braces only in silver?
6
@Di
The ones I got from Costco are quite inconspicuous .They're nor like the old pink ones. And I had no idea how withdrawn I had become without them. But insurance should absolutely cover. i paid $2500 out of pocket; many won't be able to do that.
1