Some commercial earbuds can perform as well as hearing aids. The result, presented on November 15 in the journal iScience, could help a large proportion of people with hearing loss access more affordable sound amplification devices. Hearing loss has broad health impacts, but professional hearing aids are expensive and require multiple visits to otolaryngologists and audiologists for tuning. These factors lead to major barriers for many to access professional hearing aids. One estimate suggests nearly 75% of people with hearing loss in the United States do not use hearing aids.
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