Why it’s still hard to find the right OTC hearing aid

San Francisco Chronicle · Catherine Ho · 2026-10-18 11:00 UTC

Buying an OTC hearing aid can leave you sorting through devices and coverage on your own. A UCSF researcher offers tips for finding one that fits your needs.

A few years ago, Kathryn Phillips, a UCSF health economics professor, developed what’s often called “cocktail party” hearing loss — she seemed to have normal hearing when it was quiet, but struggled to hear well in noisy environments.

So Phillips, who was then in her early 60s, embarked on what would become a long and expensive trial-and-error process to find the right hearing aid. She first tried over-the-counter devices — at one point paying $2,700 for one product — before trying several prescription hearing aids that also didn’t work particularly well, despite some costing several thousand dollars each.

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