CR's survey provides insights on consumer satisfaction with both prescription and over-the-counter hearing aid brands
CR members paid a median price of nearly $2,600 for a pair of prescription hearing aids, according to our survey.
Since the introduction of over-the-counter (OTC) devices, consumers have more options than ever when shopping for hearing aids. To help you navigate this expanding market, Consumer Reports’ latest ratings of hearing aid brands, based on our exclusive survey of 13,163 members conducted in 2023, shines a light on both prescription and OTC hearing aid brands.
In this article
We rated 17 prescription hearing aid brands: Audible, Beltone, Bernafon, Jabra/Jabra Enhance, Lucid, Miracle Ear, Oticon, Philips, Phonak, ReSound, Siemens, Signia, Starkey, Unitron, and Widex. For the first time, we also received enough responses from people who bought OTC hearing aids to rate three OTC brands: Eargo, Jabra Enhance, and MDHearing.
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“The vast majority of our survey participants bought prescription hearing aids,” says Adam Troy, a research program leader at CR who led our hearing aid brand and retailer ratings. “But among those who went the OTC route, we were able to see that for at least two of the three brands we rated, members’ satisfaction with their aids was similar to many of our midrange-scoring prescription aids.”
In our survey, CR members weighed in on their satisfaction with various aspects of their hearing aids, including battery life, reliability, sound quality, value, comfort, and more. Members also told us how satisfied they were with their hearing aids’ performance in various situations, such as one-on-one and group conversations in quiet and noisy environments.
We also rate hearing aid retailers, and we’ve evaluated 10 models of over-the-counter hearing aids.
Read on to learn more about how prescription and over-the-counter hearing aid brands stacked up. CR members can explore our complete hearing aid brand ratings. And make sure to check out our hearing aids buying guide before you shop.
We tested 10 OTC hearing aids made by Audien, Eargo, Go Hearing, Jabra, Lexie, Lucid, and Sony.
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