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My FiL has to wear hearing aids that require button batteries be replaced every couple of days. Its expensive and as annoying as hell. I wear Bluetooth bone co

My FiL has to wear hearing aids that require button batteries be replaced every couple of days. Its expensive and as annoying as hell. I wear Bluetooth bone conduction headsets all day every day. I barely notice they're there and the battery lasts all day. Why cant they just adapt this tech?

WrtCdEvrydy 5y ago
Because a hearing aid is a "medical product" therefore it gets the medical pricing.
- ekianjo 5y ago
  You have to thank the FDA and related mafia for that
  - mwachs 5y ago
    Not for long. Hearing devices will no longer be under the FDA’s purview.
  - zwirbl 5y ago
    a market for hearing aids and implants not at all regulated by FDA/MDR, what could possibly go wrong? /s Easing regulations for non-implant devices could really shake up the market in a good way, implantables OTOH should always be regulated as medical devices. But certifications with TÜV or similar are really getting out of hand with the new medical device regulation. The amount of paperwork for even pretty simple devices like a remote control is extraordinary. Source: I work for $company in that specific sector
    - ekianjo 5y ago
      > what could possibly go wrong? /s I wish we had FDA approved computers so that we would have stayed in the glorious 8 bits era for another century.
- jonathanlb 5y ago
  A hearing aid is a medical product. An off-the-shelf headphone reproduces sound that has already been engineered for consumption. Real-world sound on the other hand is unstructured and chaotic, so you'll need software to prioritize speech sounds while de-prioritizing background noise. That's going to require a bit more power to solve than a pair of headphones. On top of that, you'll need to understand which frequencies need boosting based on the patient's audiogram (basically a hearing loss profile). Can hearing aids be cheaper? Probably. Should they be covered by insurance? Absolutely. Should you research a bit more before spouting off some sort of feelgood soundbite? Yes, as well.
  - taneq 5y ago
    > An off-the-shelf headphone reproduces sound that has already been engineered for consumption. Real-world sound on the other hand is unstructured and chaotic Can’t you make phone calls with those headphones?
skybrian 5y ago
These days you can get rechargeable hearing aids with Bluetooth. They’re still expensive, though Costco has good deals.
foepys 5y ago
Don't buy hearing aids with rechargable battieres. They will slowly last shorter and shorter until you don't have even half a day until you need to charge them over half an hour or longer. They also have a typical runtime of less than a day, even the modern expensive ones. A friend of mine uses hearing aids where the batteries last them about a week until they need to change them, which takes them not even a minute. Batteries cost only a few bucks and are well worth the "empty to full in 1 minute" feature. Plus batteries don't require you to give the whole hearing aid away when the rechargable battery eventually dies.
jaclaz 5y ago
It's strange, my mom has hearing aids and the (button) non-rechargeable batteries last more or less exactly one week (let's say minimum 6 maximum 8 days), they are usually rated for 3-10 days. Her hearing aids use the 312 "size", maybe you a hearing aid that uses smaller ones? But still they should last more than just a couple days.
- senectus1 5y ago
  sounds very similar, but his has a Bluetooth component that connects it to his phone for calls and different sound "profiles" . He gets 3-5 days out of it, but he doesn't use it all the time either :-/
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    I see. Definitely it is the Bluetooth part. The ones my mom have (switched on from say 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM let's say 14 hours/day or so), use some (very short range) radio system to listen to a thingy mom wears as a necklace (the actual cord around the neck acts as antenna), size similar to a largish matchbox. This latter has a rechargeable battery and the Bluetooth part to connect to phone (and TV) with actually a rather good range. This matchbox thingy lasts barely 10 hours before needing to be recharged (I replaced the battery in one of these, it is a teeny - tiny one[0]) so I gave my mother also a (smallish) battery pack to connect when she watches TV that powers and recharges the thingy. But the actual button sizes batteries in the earpieces last 7-8 days. [0] only for the record, asked cost for replacement of battery 50 Euro + 25 Euro x 2 times handling and shipping to/from the laboratory (with insurance), total 100 Euro, 3-4 weeks time. Cost of a new "thingy" (discounted) 200 Euro. Bought a new one when the first started giving battery issues, then 2 no-name batteries via AliExpress 13 Euro (6.50 Euro each), 40 days wait or so, time to change one on the old thingy 10-15 minutes (as I was slow and careful, probably now that I know how it is made it would take 5 minutes or less)

WrtCdEvrydy 5y ago

Because a hearing aid is a "medical product" therefore it gets the medical pricing.

ekianjo 5y ago
You have to thank the FDA and related mafia for that
- mwachs 5y ago
  Not for long. Hearing devices will no longer be under the FDA’s purview.
- zwirbl 5y ago
  a market for hearing aids and implants not at all regulated by FDA/MDR, what could possibly go wrong? /s Easing regulations for non-implant devices could really shake up the market in a good way, implantables OTOH should always be regulated as medical devices. But certifications with TÜV or similar are really getting out of hand with the new medical device regulation. The amount of paperwork for even pretty simple devices like a remote control is extraordinary. Source: I work for $company in that specific sector
  - ekianjo 5y ago
    > what could possibly go wrong? /s I wish we had FDA approved computers so that we would have stayed in the glorious 8 bits era for another century.
jonathanlb 5y ago
A hearing aid is a medical product. An off-the-shelf headphone reproduces sound that has already been engineered for consumption. Real-world sound on the other hand is unstructured and chaotic, so you'll need software to prioritize speech sounds while de-prioritizing background noise. That's going to require a bit more power to solve than a pair of headphones. On top of that, you'll need to understand which frequencies need boosting based on the patient's audiogram (basically a hearing loss profile). Can hearing aids be cheaper? Probably. Should they be covered by insurance? Absolutely. Should you research a bit more before spouting off some sort of feelgood soundbite? Yes, as well.
- taneq 5y ago
  > An off-the-shelf headphone reproduces sound that has already been engineered for consumption. Real-world sound on the other hand is unstructured and chaotic Can’t you make phone calls with those headphones?

skybrian 5y ago

These days you can get rechargeable hearing aids with Bluetooth. They’re still expensive, though Costco has good deals.

foepys 5y ago

Don't buy hearing aids with rechargable battieres. They will slowly last shorter and shorter until you don't have even half a day until you need to charge them over half an hour or longer. They also have a typical runtime of less than a day, even the modern expensive ones. A friend of mine uses hearing aids where the batteries last them about a week until they need to change them, which takes them not even a minute. Batteries cost only a few bucks and are well worth the "empty to full in 1 minute" feature. Plus batteries don't require you to give the whole hearing aid away when the rechargable battery eventually dies.

jaclaz 5y ago

It's strange, my mom has hearing aids and the (button) non-rechargeable batteries last more or less exactly one week (let's say minimum 6 maximum 8 days), they are usually rated for 3-10 days. Her hearing aids use the 312 "size", maybe you a hearing aid that uses smaller ones? But still they should last more than just a couple days.

senectus1 5y ago
sounds very similar, but his has a Bluetooth component that connects it to his phone for calls and different sound "profiles" . He gets 3-5 days out of it, but he doesn't use it all the time either :-/
- jaclaz 5y ago
  I see. Definitely it is the Bluetooth part. The ones my mom have (switched on from say 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM let's say 14 hours/day or so), use some (very short range) radio system to listen to a thingy mom wears as a necklace (the actual cord around the neck acts as antenna), size similar to a largish matchbox. This latter has a rechargeable battery and the Bluetooth part to connect to phone (and TV) with actually a rather good range. This matchbox thingy lasts barely 10 hours before needing to be recharged (I replaced the battery in one of these, it is a teeny - tiny one[0]) so I gave my mother also a (smallish) battery pack to connect when she watches TV that powers and recharges the thingy. But the actual button sizes batteries in the earpieces last 7-8 days. [0] only for the record, asked cost for replacement of battery 50 Euro + 25 Euro x 2 times handling and shipping to/from the laboratory (with insurance), total 100 Euro, 3-4 weeks time. Cost of a new "thingy" (discounted) 200 Euro. Bought a new one when the first started giving battery issues, then 2 no-name batteries via AliExpress 13 Euro (6.50 Euro each), 40 days wait or so, time to change one on the old thingy 10-15 minutes (as I was slow and careful, probably now that I know how it is made it would take 5 minutes or less)