Back in August, the FDA announced it was making a big change in the world of hearing aids: From October onward, hearing aids would be available without a prescription, over the counter. In a world where getting fitted for a hearing aid could be very expensive, and the hearing aids themselves were wrapped up in the U.S. hellscape that is health insurance. Over the past couple of months, the landscape has changed significantly.
It took me a moment to dawn on me why some of the well-known brands have thrown themselves into the hearing aid game, but when you think about it, a hearing aid is a customized set of noise-cancelling headphones in reverse: Instead of blocking out all the sound, they block out some sound and amplify the sounds you want. Combine this with a hearing test to figure out which frequencies need to be boosted, and profiles (speech,