STANDARD PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT’S EXECUTIVE ORDER BRINGS AFFORDABLE HEARING AIDS TO ALL AMERICANS

Hearing Assist, the leading direct-to-consumer rechargeable hearing aid brand since 2008, commends the bipartisan efforts of our government that will finally remove barriers to accessible and affordable hearing care.

Virginia Beach, VA, July 13, 2021 —Hearing Assist applauds President Biden on his Executive Order directing the FDA to consider issuing proposed rules within 120 days for allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter.

The Executive Order Fact Sheet cites, "Hearing aids are so expensive that only 14% of the approximately 48 million Americans with hearing loss use them. On average, they cost more than $5,000 per pair, and those costs are often not covered by health insurance. A major driver of the expense is that consumers must get them from a doctor or a specialist, even though experts agree that medical evaluation is not necessary. Rather, this requirement serves only as red tape and a barrier to more companies selling hearing aids. The four largest hearing aid manufacturers now control 84% of the market." 

The Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aid Act was passed in 2017 during the Trump Administration. The Act instructed the FDA to create governing regulations for over-the-counter hearing aid sales by August 2020 but that was reprioritized due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Hearing Assist remained steadfast its decade plus long effort to bring affordable, audiologist equivalent, hearing aids to consumers in need of a solution for mild to moderate hearing loss. Hearing Assist hearing aids start at $500 per pair, which is one tenth of the average cost cited in the Executive Order.  

“Traditionally, the price of the services provided by the audiologist, both before and after fitting hearing aids, are bundled into the price of the hearing aids and can comprise 40%-70% of the total cost charged to patients (ie, for a $5000 pair of hearing aids, approximately 2/3 of the cost actually covers an audiologist’s time and services).” - The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 129, No 3, March 2016

Between the big four hearing aid manufacturers and antiquated individual state laws that required hearing aids to be dispensed via state licensed providers only, consumers and their families have suffered financially, physically, and emotionally. We haven’t seen the kind of deflationary pricing in hearing aids that we have seen through all other pieces of technology over time such as smartphones, flat screen TV’s, computers, etc. The OTC Hearing Aid Act removes prohibitive government mandates, gives consumers control over their own hearing health and well-being, and encourages competition that results in more choice and lower costs for consumers.

Hearing Assist hearing aids are currently available at hearingassist.com, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, and in Walmart stores in Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. All Hearing Assist hearing aids come with a 60-day money back guarantee and free, unlimited U.S. based customer care powered by Canon with their best-in-class service.

Hearing Assist is the largest direct to consumer hearing aid brand in the U.S. For more than a decade, beginning with the Lee Majors Rechargeable Bionic hearing aid, Hearing Assist has worked to change the business of hearing aids. We specialize in low cost, audiologist equivalent hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss, without middlemen, expensive professional audiologist services, or high markups.

###