Listen up: Hearing aids selling over counter, at lower costs

Consumers are now able to buy hearing aids directly off store shelves, and at dramatically lower prices, as a 2017 federal law finally took effect this past week.

Where for decades it cost thousands of dollars to get a device that could be purchased only with a prescription from an audiologist or other hearing professional, now a new category of over-the-counter aids are selling for hundreds of dollars. Walmart says it will sell a hearing aid for as little as $199.

The over-the-counter aids are intended for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss — a market of tens of millions of people, many of whom have until now avoided getting help because devices were so expensive.

“From a conceptual point of view, this is huge that this is finally happening,” said Dr. Frank Lin, director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He predicts it could take a couple of years for the new market to shake out as manufacturers and retailers get accus

tomed to selling aids and consumers become familiar with the options.

Hearing care experts say they are pleased to see the lower prices. Lin said he believes prices will fall further as more competitors enter the market in the next two years.

Prices and features will vary for the new OTC hearing aids — much as they do for prescription aids. A pair of prescription devices typically sells from $2,000 to $8,000. Some of the technology found in the pricier prescription aids will be available in the cheaper OTC aids.

The OTC aids cost less partly because they do not bundle the services of an audiologist for a hearing evaluation, fitting, and fine-tuning the device. Instead, the new devices are intended to be set up by the consumers themselves, although manufacturers will offer technical assistance through apps and by phone.

Some new companies have entered the market, including Sony. It will sell its lowest-cost, self-fitting OTC hearing aid for $999 at Best Buy and other retailers.

Walmart said it will offer an assortment of OTC hearing aids, including some at $199 to $299 per pair from the South Africa-based company hearx, which also makes Lexie devices. Initially, the devices will be available at Walmart stores in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. But the company expects to make them available nationwide soon.

Walgreens will offer the Lexie Lumen OTC hearing aid for $799 a pair. The offerings at Walgreens, CVS, Best Buy and Walmart also will include a Lexie hearing aid developed in partnership with Bose.

Costco, one of the largest sellers of hearing aids dispensed through a hearing professional, would not reveal whether it will offer any over the counter.

De Wet Swanepoel, the co-founder of hearx, said its Lexie Lumen OTC hearing aid will allow consumers to program it to their needs. Other OTC devices will offer preprogrammed settings.

“There are a lot of products out on the market and there is going to be a need for a lot of education for consumers about what is the difference between devices,” he said.

Some consumers may want to see an audiologist either in person or online to get their hearing tested before buying an OTC aid, Lin said. An audiologist could also recommend which hearing aid is best for their kind of hearing loss. Traditional fee-for-service Medicare and most health insurers cover routine hearing tests. But Medicare and most private insurers don’t cover the cost of hearing aids, although many private Medicare Advantage plans do.

Another factor that could fuel demand for the new devices is the stigma of wearing a hearing aid is diminishing because people commonly use ear devices to listen to music.

More than 37 million American adults have trouble hearing, and only 1 in 4 adults who could benefit from a hearing aid have used one, federal health officials estimate.