085 - OTC Hearing Aids: Hearing Professional Perspective on FDA's Final Regulations

After years of debate and discussion, the FDA has finally issued its 'final rule' for over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids in the United States. After hearing from numerous stakholders and thousands of comments following the publication of the draft rule in late 2021, the FDA made some changes to the previous draft version of the regulations.    How do hearing professionals feel about the changes that were made? How do they see the market developing in the United States and do they think it will have a negative impact on patient care?   In this special episode, we hear from three hearing professionals who are all also private practice owners:   *D'Anne Rudden, AuD, Longmont Hearing & Tinnitus Center  *Laura Pratesi, AuD, Citrus Hearing Clinic  *Madison Levine, BC-HIS, Levine Hearing   We also sought out opinions from consumers and from the hearing industry, which can be viewed:   Consumer Perspective on OTC: https://youtu.be/91g639J7PoE Industry Perspective on OTC: https://youtu.be/Dtk3gTT35PE