The Rise of Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids: How They're Changing the Game

As of October 17th, 2022, the FDA has established a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids, marking a significant shift in the way people approach hearing loss. These devices can now be purchased without a prescription, making them more accessible to those who need them. The consumer electronic brands, such as Sony, have taken notice and are launching their own lines of over-the-counter hearing aids.

What Do Hearing Aids Really Do?

There's often a misconception about how hearing aids work. Many people think they simply amplify sound like cartoon-style ear trumpets, but in reality, they're much more nuanced. When you get tested for hearing loss, an audiologist administers a series of tones at varying frequencies that you respond to. If you can't hear the tone, you don't respond to it. This test helps create an audiogram, a map of your frequency sensitivity. The audiogram shows which frequencies you have difficulty with, and this information is used by hearing aids to amplify only those frequencies.

Hearing Aids 2.0: Sony's CR c20s

Sony has developed the CR c20s, one of the first over-the-counter hearing aids on the market. These devices use advanced technology to help people hear better in various environments. The CR c20s have onboard processing that determines voices versus background noise, making it easier to hear conversations in crowded spaces. They also feature sophisticated feedback cancellation tech, which eliminates the dreaded "feedback" sound or hiss when talking into a microphone. The sound clarity is impressive, and the device can even cancel out ambient noise, allowing you to focus on the person in front of you.

The Sony Hearing Control App

One of the most significant advantages of the CR c20s is the Sony hearing control app. This app allows users to fine-tune their hearing aids with ease, adjusting settings like volume and sound clarity. The app also features an auto-adjusting mic that adapts to your environment, ensuring you get clear sound in any situation. With a few minutes of setup, the device is ready to use, and adjustments can be made on-the-fly using simple controls.

Triage System and Support

The Sony hearing control app includes a step-by-step triage system to address reported issues with the hearing aids. This system helps users identify the problem and find a solution. Additionally, there's a dedicated hotline that connects users with trained Sony experts who can provide personalized support for free. This means that users no longer need to rely on traditional medical professionals or pay for additional consultations.

Design: Discretion vs. Functionality

There are two main types of over-the-counter hearing aids: discreet ones like the Sony CR c20s, which are almost invisible unless you're looking directly at them, and earbud-like models like the Sony CR10s, which are smaller but don't offer the same level of discretion.

Discreet hearing aids like the CR c20s have a hard time working through your skull due to Bluetooth limitations. This means they can't be used as Bluetooth headsets to play music or take calls. On the other hand, earbud-like models like the CR10s can do that and more. However, these devices are smaller and may not provide the same level of sound quality.

Taking Your First Hearing Test

Sony has made a free hearing test available for anyone who wants to know if they're a candidate for over-the-counter hearing aids. This test takes just 5 minutes and can be taken from your browser without signing up or creating an account. The test provides an honest assessment of your hearing, helping you determine if you need hearing aids and which type would be best for you.

The future of hearing aids looks bright, with over-the-counter options becoming increasingly popular. As technology continues to advance, we can expect even more innovative features and designs that make these devices accessible and user-friendly for everyone.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyou probably have hearing loss of some sort just statistically speaking according to the hearing loss Association of America approximately 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss and since it can affect nearly every dimension of being a human physical and mental health social skills relationships even work in school it's shocking when you think that only one in five people who would absolutely benefit from a hearing aid actually use one now it's not without reason as there are some pretty significant barriers to using them the first one being cost prescription hearing aids can cost upwards of over $6,000 in addition to that there tends to be in some cases at least a stigma to using them you don't necessarily want to be seen with one maybe but that is all changing thanks to the FDA establishing a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids AKA ones you can just go out and buy without a prescription as of October 17th 2022 so that makes it a consumer electronic and so naturally the consumer electronic brands that you know and love like Sony for example decided that they might be able to help with those pain points in a big way and well it makes sense firstly though what do hearing aids even do exactly I think there's a bit of a misconception that they work like those cartoon old tiny ear trumpets and that they just amplify all of the sound and they're actually much more nuanced than that normally when you get tested for hearing loss you get played a series of tones at varying frequencies that you would then respond to when you hear them and of course you not hear the ones that you can't hear so you don't respond to those generally an audiologist a doctor specializing in hearing would administer Minister this test which of course added to the cost of these hearing aids but with these new over-the-counter ones you can easily take a test on your phone or a website using headphones and simply tap or click when you hear the tones or adjust the sliders whatever it might be this data is then used to create an audiogram that looks something like this and it's basically a map of the frequencies that you have some loss in indicated by their lower position on the graph the lower the more loss in that frequency so what hearing aids do is they use this information and they create a profile for the hearing aids to amplify just those frequencies and in the case of the Sony CR c20s like these they also have onboard processing to additionally determine voices versus other noise to help make voices even easier to hear on top of that and adjust everything per ear now all of that is different compared to regular music earbuds plus hearing aids have sophisticated feedback cancellation Tech that allows the boosting of the sound a lot more as needed for hearing loss without that dreaded feedback sound or hiss when the mic essentially is feeding back the audio that it picks up from the speaker in addition to that sound Clarity is specifically good and even in loud environments like say a coffee shop you can still hear the person in front of you while pulling down everything else and they have Auto adjusting mics that adjust sound based on your environment in the case of the Sony hearing aids all of this is done in the Sony hearing control app and after a few minutes all of it is set up automatically you can then find tweak it using simple controls to make it sharper or less sharp which can help people missing certain frequencies here consonants versus vowels better depending on which is harder for them as well as a adjust the volume per ear too also in the app you can go through a step-by-step triage system to fix things based on reported issues and they even have a specific hotline that you can call to get help from their Sony hear team which gets you a human specifically trained to help you with hearing aids for free as many times as you need which is helpful since we remove the doctors that we would normally reach out to with prescription hearing aids and now for the over-the-counter hearing aids themselves and unlike prescription ones that for the most part looks are not really something anyone thought of most over-the-counter ones are much better looking and Sleek even like the CR c20s and the CR e10s now there are generally two types of over-the-counter hearing AES those that are more discreet like these Sony c20s that are basically invisible unless you're looking directly down someone's ear canal and there are more earbud like ones like these Sony cr10s that are still way smaller than you'd find for most music normal earbuds and one of the trade-offs between these in general is that the inar ones give you more discretion but because of how Bluetooth works it has a hard time going through your skull basically they can't really be used as Bluetooth headsets to play music for example whereas the cr10s can do that like a normal pair of earbuds because they stick out a bit okay so knowing what overthe counter hearing aids are how they work and why we're seeing more and more of them right now thanks to that FDA ruling the next logical step is to see if you're a candidate for them and again most people who are don't actually know that they are thankfully Sony actually has a freefor anyone hearing test at the link below that you can use from a browser with head headphones without signing up for an account of any sort to get a report of how your hearing is give it a try it only takes 5 minutes and hope you guys learn something thanks for watchingyou probably have hearing loss of some sort just statistically speaking according to the hearing loss Association of America approximately 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss and since it can affect nearly every dimension of being a human physical and mental health social skills relationships even work in school it's shocking when you think that only one in five people who would absolutely benefit from a hearing aid actually use one now it's not without reason as there are some pretty significant barriers to using them the first one being cost prescription hearing aids can cost upwards of over $6,000 in addition to that there tends to be in some cases at least a stigma to using them you don't necessarily want to be seen with one maybe but that is all changing thanks to the FDA establishing a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids AKA ones you can just go out and buy without a prescription as of October 17th 2022 so that makes it a consumer electronic and so naturally the consumer electronic brands that you know and love like Sony for example decided that they might be able to help with those pain points in a big way and well it makes sense firstly though what do hearing aids even do exactly I think there's a bit of a misconception that they work like those cartoon old tiny ear trumpets and that they just amplify all of the sound and they're actually much more nuanced than that normally when you get tested for hearing loss you get played a series of tones at varying frequencies that you would then respond to when you hear them and of course you not hear the ones that you can't hear so you don't respond to those generally an audiologist a doctor specializing in hearing would administer Minister this test which of course added to the cost of these hearing aids but with these new over-the-counter ones you can easily take a test on your phone or a website using headphones and simply tap or click when you hear the tones or adjust the sliders whatever it might be this data is then used to create an audiogram that looks something like this and it's basically a map of the frequencies that you have some loss in indicated by their lower position on the graph the lower the more loss in that frequency so what hearing aids do is they use this information and they create a profile for the hearing aids to amplify just those frequencies and in the case of the Sony CR c20s like these they also have onboard processing to additionally determine voices versus other noise to help make voices even easier to hear on top of that and adjust everything per ear now all of that is different compared to regular music earbuds plus hearing aids have sophisticated feedback cancellation Tech that allows the boosting of the sound a lot more as needed for hearing loss without that dreaded feedback sound or hiss when the mic essentially is feeding back the audio that it picks up from the speaker in addition to that sound Clarity is specifically good and even in loud environments like say a coffee shop you can still hear the person in front of you while pulling down everything else and they have Auto adjusting mics that adjust sound based on your environment in the case of the Sony hearing aids all of this is done in the Sony hearing control app and after a few minutes all of it is set up automatically you can then find tweak it using simple controls to make it sharper or less sharp which can help people missing certain frequencies here consonants versus vowels better depending on which is harder for them as well as a adjust the volume per ear too also in the app you can go through a step-by-step triage system to fix things based on reported issues and they even have a specific hotline that you can call to get help from their Sony hear team which gets you a human specifically trained to help you with hearing aids for free as many times as you need which is helpful since we remove the doctors that we would normally reach out to with prescription hearing aids and now for the over-the-counter hearing aids themselves and unlike prescription ones that for the most part looks are not really something anyone thought of most over-the-counter ones are much better looking and Sleek even like the CR c20s and the CR e10s now there are generally two types of over-the-counter hearing AES those that are more discreet like these Sony c20s that are basically invisible unless you're looking directly down someone's ear canal and there are more earbud like ones like these Sony cr10s that are still way smaller than you'd find for most music normal earbuds and one of the trade-offs between these in general is that the inar ones give you more discretion but because of how Bluetooth works it has a hard time going through your skull basically they can't really be used as Bluetooth headsets to play music for example whereas the cr10s can do that like a normal pair of earbuds because they stick out a bit okay so knowing what overthe counter hearing aids are how they work and why we're seeing more and more of them right now thanks to that FDA ruling the next logical step is to see if you're a candidate for them and again most people who are don't actually know that they are thankfully Sony actually has a freefor anyone hearing test at the link below that you can use from a browser with head headphones without signing up for an account of any sort to get a report of how your hearing is give it a try it only takes 5 minutes and hope you guys learn something thanks for watching\n"