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Heard the Latest about Hearing Aids?

Recent moves by the Food and Drug Administration have made it possible to buy hearing aids as Christmas gifts this year.

That FDA has ruled that hearing aids can be made available over the counter to the public without requiring users to have a medical hearing test first. It also means the devices don’t have to be programmed to one’s specific hearing deficiencies.

Hearing-aid users who have been paying several hundreds of dollars for doctor’s visits and hearing aids, and a few extra bucks to have them molded separately to fit comfortably into each ear, are able to stop by their nearest drug store and pick up a much-cheaper pair of devices that can magnify sound.

It also presents the possibility that you can buy a pair of hearing aids as a gift for a parent or spouse you’ve been yelling at for who-remembers-how-long.

Don’t expect this development to solve the hearing-loss problem for you and those around you. The first and best step anyone should take when considering the status of their hearing is to get tested by an audiologist. Perhaps simple sound amplifiers will work for you.

A pleasant offshoot of this development is that it may bring down the cost of more sophisticated hearing devices tailored for you by your audiologist.