Hear Better with the Right Hearing Aids

OTC (over-the-counter) hearing aids are FDA-regulated devices that adults 18 and older can buy without a hearing test, prescription, or audiologist visit — you self-fit them with a smartphone app. The FDA created the category in October 2022, and it is limited to perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss. If your loss is severe, sudden, or affects only one ear, see a hearing professional instead.

OTC pairs commonly run $200–$1,000, with premium self-fitting models from Jabra and Sony reaching $1,000–$1,400. Prescription hearing aids average about $3,000 per pair out of pocket according to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and premium fittings can reach $5,000–$7,000. For mild-to-moderate loss, OTC saves roughly $1,000–$5,000 per pair.

For mild-to-moderate loss, the best ones are close. In independent lab testing by HearAdvisor, the self-fitting Jabra Enhance Select 500 earned an "A" SoundGrade — the top 5% of all hearing aids tested, prescription models included. Prescription still wins on professional fitting with real-ear measurement, on severe and profound loss, and on hands-on aftercare.

Original Medicare (Parts A and B) does not cover hearing aids or the exams to fit them, so the cost is out of pocket. Some Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans include a hearing benefit with a capped allowance. Hearing aids and their accessories are HSA/FSA-eligible medical expenses, which effectively discounts them by your marginal tax rate — often 22–30%.

Expect several weeks of daily wear, and sometimes a few months. Amplification restores frequencies your brain has learned to ignore, so voices and everyday sounds seem harsh at first before they normalize. This is why the trial period matters more than the shipping speed: Jabra Enhance offers a 100-day risk-free trial and Eargo, Lexie and MDHearing offer 45 days, while a standard retail return window is about 30 days.

A hearing aid is FDA-cleared to treat hearing loss and has built-in output limits for safety. A PSAP (personal sound amplification product) is not a medical device at all — it simply makes everything louder, including background noise. If a cheap "hearing aid" listing does not mention FDA clearance, it is almost certainly a PSAP. About 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from real hearing aids, according to the NIDCD.