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The Department of Health and Social Care announced yesterday its guidance on over-the-counter hearing aids in the UK. The guidance has given businesses the green light to sell certain hearing aids that include earphones with both hearing test and hearing aid software functionalities – and is set to impact tens of thousands of people living with hearing loss.
Harriet Oppenherimer, chief executive of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) welcomed the news, but cautioned that Government need to be careful with how this is introduced. “Hearing aids are life-changing and can improve physical, social, emotional and mental wellbeing. Yet, we know that there are millions of people who could benefit from hearing aids who do not currently use them,” she said. “We therefore share the Government’s excitement about the potential benefits of over-the-counter hearing aids, including as a mechanism to encourage people to take action on their hearing loss. However, changes need to be introduced carefully and with the right regulatory safeguards in place.”
“There are some significant risks to consider in allowing all hearing aids to be made available without the user having first received a gold-standard hearing test, a referral to an audiologist to consider any underlying health conditions, or having their hearing aids fitted by a trained professional.
“Furthermore, without these safety checks and balances in place, there is also a risk that many people may either delay seeking medical help for hearing loss, or even wrongly self-prescribe hearing aids which, if used incorrectly, could worsen hearing loss.”
Harriet ended by saying that research into the effectiveness of these products for people with hearing loss would be of great interest and value to the RNID, and confirmed the RNID’s willingness to work in partnership with the Government on this process.
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