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    The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

    For decades, the FDA has regulated hearing aids as a prescription medical device — an arrangement that adds to the cost and effort people must invest to get them.
    by Bill Chappell Oct 19, 2021 2 minutes
    The FDA is moving to approve OTC hearing aids, in a change that lawmakers and advocates have long called for. Here, a man displays his hearing aid before taking part in a meeting.

    People with mild or moderate hearing loss could soon be able to buy hearing aids without a medical exam or special fitting, under a new rule being proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. The agency says 37.5 million American adults have difficulties hearing.

    "Today's move by FDA takes us one step closer to the goal of making hearing aids more accessible and affordable for the tens on Tuesday.

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