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AsteroidFilter t1_iyym2k3 wrote

Reply to comment by nekogatonyan in FDA change ushers in cheaper, easier-to-get hearing aids by AsslessBaboon

60% deaf in both ears here. Out of 10, I'm usually at a 3. With headphones/earbuds watching movies, I"m maybe at a 6. With hearing aids, 7-8 maybe?

As an adult, I'm faced with two choices: fork up $6k somehow for hearing aids or spend $140 on amazon for hearing amplifiers and wear them when I need to.

I know there are heavy regulations for hearing aids over sound amplifiers but I don't see how they justify a 4200% price increase?

I feel like I should just make eyeglasses with a microphone connected to a local speech transcriber like Whisper or Nemo and just display subtitles as some kind of overlay on the glass. Eliminate the need for the deaf to translate speech into words entirely. For all languages.

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MelMac5 t1_iz0ixf8 wrote

It was the same with prescription glasses although not to that degree. You could only get the glasses from the optometrist and the Luxottica monopoly. The price drastically decreased once the free market got a hold of it. I'm wearing $20 Zennis now.

I'm even fine with requiring a prescription for hearing devices, since as others have posted it helps rule out other issues such as infection, impacted wax, etc. Also helps pinpoint the best device.

But the outrageous markup on these things is something I'm glad to see being addressed by opening up the market.

Do CPAP machines next!

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