HACKER Q&A
📣 cpr

Hearing Aid Industry Disruption


Isn't it time to disrupt the hearing aid industry, which is pretty scammy?

Seems like with modern technology, you could leapfrog all these existing, expensive, old hardware solutions.

Or am I missing someone already doing that?

  👤 jleyank Accepted Answer ✓
Well, they are regulated medical devices, so that hinders disruption a bit. But they're pricey and probably not quite worth all that's paid for them. But, when you need them you need them and the DSP's needed to do some of the noise reduction (and their size) prevents a trivial alternative. Unless you figure that the brains will be in a watch or smartphone...

But they have to sound pretty good, which makes for expensive small speakers. High-end earphones, I think, are at least as pricey as the mid-grade hearing aids in that both have to be sonically clean at worst.

👤 megamike
Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids Are Coming. Here’s How to Get Ready. If you think you have mild or moderate hearing loss, there are ways to prepare for one of the less-expensive hearing aids coming to your drugstore

By

Julie Jargon Dec. 11, 2021 9:00 am ET

A hearing-aid disruption is under way, with inexpensive hearing aids heading to drugstores and other retailers sometime next year. But if you’re experiencing hearing loss, doctors and hearing experts say it isn’t wise to just wait for them to arrive.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected in the next few months to finalize a rule it proposed in October allowing people to buy hearing aids without getting a medical exam first. The rule would take effect 60 days after it’s published, following a public comment period that ends next month. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/over-the-counter-hearing-ai...

👤 brutus1213
I think hearing aids proper are pretty decently priced when it comes to the hardware. I'm not saying they are cheap (I grumbled too when I had to pay .. but then I realized why they are expensive). A lot of the cost is on services such as fittings, material for molds, etc. Do you have a fine-grained breakdown on the costs?

On the tech side, hearing aids are much more impressive than headphones. But I do agree the tech can go much further. I'm a research scientist, and I am curious to learn more about the academic communities that work on this tech. If anyone has pointers, would appreciate it.