People with age-related hearing loss can rejoice: preset listening assistants, sold for 300 euros, are allowed in pharmacies.
Listening assistants make their entry into pharmacies. The Official Journal of August 22 formalized it: these preset hearing aids can be offered by pharmacists. Good news for the hearing impaired when we know that they cost eight times less than custom devices.
Listening assistants have been at the heart of a fierce debate for three years. On the one hand, the only manufacturer, Sonalto, wants to open their sale to pharmacies. On the other, hearing aid professionals, who invoked their monopoly. The Official Journal closes the debate and allows pharmacists to market “preset listening assistants with a maximum power of 20 decibels. “
While these devices reduce costs for people with presbycusis, a mild age-related hearing loss, they only partially solve the problem. A hearing aid costs on average 1,535 euros, but health insurance only reimburses 120. Listening assistants cost eight times less (299 euros according to Sonalto), but they are not covered. . And for good reason: they are the auditory equivalent of reading glasses and simply amplify sounds. The manufacturer’s website specifies it moreover: in no case is this product intended for “hearing impaired, sudden hearing loss, dizziness, headache. It is not a miracle product either: in the event of persistent hearing loss, it cannot replace a prosthesis adapted by a hearing aid professional.
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-1610045888.jpg "Children with hearing loss: the earlier they are fitted, the better")
