Any real attempt at hearing aid reform cannot skip in-person hearing tests. You need somebody to look inside the ear to verify that the hearing loss is not due

Any real attempt at hearing aid reform cannot skip in-person hearing tests. You need somebody to look inside the ear to verify that the hearing loss is not due to earwax buildup or infection, and to run a tympanogram test to check for mid-to-inner-ear issues. Maybe the rest of a hearing test could be done with current headphone technology in a quiet environment, I don't know. But until somebody makes a take-home, ML-powered widget with both a camera and a tympanogram-capable widget, people will need to show up in person to get a dependable hearing test result. The biggest thing the FDA could do would be to standardize a digital format for hearing tests and require new hearing aids to be programmed on the basis of the standard format. This would allow people to go in-person to get their hearing checked by a technician, get a test result, and then program that test result into any hearing aid of their choice bought on the open market.