3 ms·
Especially here. Expecting good faith in hearing aid regulation - from the FDA?! Remember, Congress authorized OTC hearing aids back in the Trump administration
by gwern 2y ago
Especially here. Expecting good faith in hearing aid regulation - from the FDA?! Remember, Congress authorized OTC hearing aids back in the Trump administration, in August 2017 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-Counter_Hearing_Aid_Act_of_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-Counter_Hearing_Aid_A...). For perspective, GPT-1 didn't even exist yet. But the FDA slow-walked it so long that the Biden administration had to intervene (and is now trying to claim credit for it all, of course), which is part of why the OTC hearing aid explosion has taken so long, been so tentative and slow, and you're only seeing it really taking off the past 2 years or so.
- tomrod 2y agoIf they hadn't intervened, would it have happened?
- gwern 2y agoHard to say. They could have fiddled with the rules to make it really unappetizing and kill the market, or slowwalk every last thing (how many vaping products have been approved?). It could have taken many more years and been a lot worse, which is a tragedy for the many, many old people who seriously need it. (Like my grandfather. I also appreciate it, because while OTC hearing aids are - for now - too weak for my hearing loss, it's providing much more competition for the prescription hearing aid oligopoly and I'm benefiting indirectly. The jump between my hearing aids from 2017 to the pair I bought this year is the largest jump in quality I've heard in my hearing aids in like 20+ years.)