By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Groveland Twp. — Beginning Oct. 17, a new Food and Drug administration rule allowed the sale of hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss over the counter.
“Before the new ruling, most hearing aids required a prescription from a physician during a medical exam or a fitting by an audiologist,” said Jen Roelandt, Pharm. D with Rite Aid in Ortonville. “Retain pharmacies do no dispense hearing aids, hearing aids can be dispensed at hearing aid center.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone with mild hearing loss may hear some speech sounds but soft sounds may be hard to hear. For moderate hearing loss, a person may hear almost no speech when another person is talking at a normal level.
“The new ruling allows stores or online retailers to sell them without a prescription, so people will just be able to walk into most stores, or online retailers, and pick one up,” said Roelandt.
Currently, many major retailers such as CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy and Walmart have hearing aids listed for sale online. Anyone is able to buy these devices, but anyone with severe hearing loss would still need a hearing aid prescribed by a doctor.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 15 percent of adults in American report some trouble hearing. However, among adults aged 20 to 69 years of age with hearing loss, only about 16 percent have ever used hearing aids. Among adults 70 years old and older with hearing loss, only 30 percent has ever used them.
It is uncertain when stores will have over-the-counter hearing aids in stock, but they are expected to cost less than the average pair of prescribed hearing aids, which can range from $2,000 to $7,000.