There’s good news for people with impaired hearing: Hearing aids may soon be available over the counter, like reading glasses. But I was struck by something in this encouraging New York Times report. The writer, Shira Ovide, is clearly enthusiastic about this new development. But notice her framing, first in the subhead of the article:
Over‐the‐counter hearing aids have the potential to show government and tech companies at their best.
And then throughout the article:
These over‐the‐counter hearing aids have the potential to prove that the best efforts of government and technology companies can improve Americans’ lives.…
Medical professionals, patient advocates and tech executives that I’ve spoken with are excited about the potential of over‐the‐counter hearing aids. They imagine the government’s blessing will spark new inventions from companies like Bose, Best Buy and Apple. And they believe that this could be the start of a golden age for hearing help.…
the new market opportunity that the government created may open the door to ideas we can’t yet imagine.
And what exactly is government’s role in this exciting new world for 38 million Americans with hearing loss? Here’s a fuller description:
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration started the process — after a long wait — to create a new category of government‐approved hearing aids that Americans will be able to buy without a prescription. Congress authorized over‐the‐counter hearing aids in 2017.
The linked article elaborates:
Under current regulations, which are more than 40 years old, only providers licensed by the states can prescribe and sell the devices, which can often cost roughly $5,000 a pair, and require visiting an audiologist or technician for testing, fitting and potential adjustments.
So for more than 40 years, a period of tremendous medical and technological progress, Americans have only been able to get hearing aids from licensed providers, almost certainly raising the price. Indeed some experts say that hearing aids might become available for only a few hundred dollars. And after more than 40 years, Congress authorized over‐the‐counter hearing aids. Four years later President Biden told the FDA to get on it. And now the FDA is starting the process.
So the “best efforts of government” that Ms. Ovide applauds are to stop blocking Americans from buying hearing aids. And once the government allows this “new market opportunity” to exist, we can hope for “new inventions from companies like Bose, Best Buy and Apple.” The way government and tech companies are going to work together is that the government is going to stop preventing the emergence of a broad market that tech companies may rush to serve.
I am reminded of Thoreau’s comment in his essay “Civil Disobedience”: “This government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.”
