NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tracy Smith first began using hearing aids at just 30 years old.
"In the beginning, it was mild to moderate," said Smith, an empowerment program manager at Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. "Over time, it progressed."
She knows the prices can be staggering.
"Average cost of hearing aids is over $4,000," said Smith.
That's one reason she's thankful to see over-the-counter options become available.
"They're not for everybody but they are for people who are mild to moderate hearing loss, which is about 37.5 million people in this country," Smith said.
Stores like Walmart now offer the aids for as little as $200, while top-of-the-line aids at Best Buy could run those in need $3,000.
"The very, very smallest devices will have less amplification," said Dr. Todd Ricketts, professor and vice chair of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Ricketts said there are two basic categories.
"There are those that are self-fitting, and so they actually you go through the device and go through a fitting routine," he said. "And those that are referred to as self-adjusting, and self-adjusting is the patient would adjust themselves for the sound that they wanted."
He said the self-fitting tends to be a bit more expensive. Those may include higher-end features like Bluetooth pairing.
"The different styles are comfort, cosmetics and how exactly it needs to couple to the ear depending on the type of hearing loss," said Dr. Todd Ricketts.
Whether you go with behind-the-ear, in-the-ear or in-the-canal, the decision is largely preference. But Dr. Ricketts hopes the easy access to over-the-counter hearing aids doesn't deter patients from visiting the doctor.
"People that are interested in over-the-counter, I would encourage them to be well educated in what's out there and what's available and what it gives you," he said.
Ricketts said often the price of prescription hearing aids includes doctor's visits to learn about the hearing aids and fine-tune them — that means the cost of prescription and over-the counter-may sometimes overlap.
