The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017. With the passage of this groundbreaking legislation Congress has sent a message to America that people with hearing loss need – and deserve – more affordable and accessible hearing health care. The Senate should be voting on the bill before the end of the summer.
The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) has supported the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act since it was first introduced in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in March of this year. The companion House bill was introduced in the House by Representatives Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Although the hearing health care debate continues, this legislation shows a true Congressional bipartisan effort that will ultimately benefit all consumers with hearing loss, especially the millions of people who currently don’t have access to hearing health care simply because they can’t afford it.
The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 would make certain types of hearing aids available over the counter to adults with mild to moderate hearing loss. In addition, the proposed legislation would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate this new category of OTC hearing aids to ensure they meet the same high standards for safety, consumer labeling and manufacturing protection that all other medical devices must meet. This will give consumers the option to purchase a safe, high-quality FDA-regulated device at lower cost.
Creating a new category of OTC hearing devices was one of the 12 recommendations in the report, Hearing Health Care for Adults: Priorities for Improving Access and Affordability, issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) in June 2016, which HLAA fully supported.
Since this new category has not yet been created it is unclear how the devices will be defined. However, they should not be confused with products already on the market called PSAPs (Personal Sound Amplification Products). PSAPs cannot legally be marketed to people with hearing loss as a “hearing aid,” only to those with “normal” hearing as an amplification device.
Source: https://www.hearingloss.org/
