Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 12;10(6):150.
doi: 10.3390/pharmacy10060150.

National Survey of Pharmacist Awareness, Interest, and Readiness for Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

Elizabeth S Midey  1 , Alexis Gaggini  1 , Elaine Mormer  2 , Lucas A Berenbrok  1
Affiliations

National Survey of Pharmacist Awareness, Interest, and Readiness for Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

Elizabeth S Midey et al. Pharmacy (Basel). .

Abstract

Hearing loss is a major public health concern, affecting over 30 million Americans. Few adults who could benefit from hearing aids use them. Hearing aids are now available over-the-counter (OTC) for persons with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Community pharmacies will sell OTC hearing aids to increase public access to hearing healthcare. The purpose of this study was to describe pharmacist awareness, interest, and readiness to offer OTC hearing aids at community pharmacies. A multiple-item online survey was designed using the Theory of Planned Behavior and responses were collected from licensed pharmacists from July 2021 to December 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the 97 responses collected. Most respondents were not aware of the upcoming OTC hearing aid availability. Most respondents were somewhat or very interested in increasing their knowledge on OTC hearing aids, selling OTC hearing aids, and assisting patients with OTC hearing aid selection. Most respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that they had the necessary knowledge to counsel patients on OTC hearing aids. The most reported supporting factor was training and educational resources. OTC hearing aids are a unique public health initiative which will expand patient access to hearing health care to community pharmacies.

Keywords: community pharmacy; hearing loss; over-the-counter hearing aids; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Lucas Berenbrok and Elaine Mormer are co-creators of the pharmacy education, CHAMP: Championing Hearing Using Accessible Medication Experts at the Community Pharmacy owned by the University of Pittsburgh. The authors declare no other relevant conflict of interest or financial relationships.

References

    1. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Quick Statistics about Hearing. [(accessed on 24 May 2022)];2021 Available online: https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-hearing.
    1. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use. [(accessed on 26 May 2022)]; Available online: https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Shareable%20Images/Hearing....
    1. Lawrence B.J., Jayakody D.M.P., Bennett R.J., Eikelboom R., Gasson N., Friedland P.L. Hearing Loss and Depression in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Gerontol. 2019;60:e137–e154. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnz009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shukla A., Harper M., Pedersen E., Goman A., Suen J.J., Price C., Applebaum J., Hoyer M., Lin F.R., Reed N.S. Hearing Loss, Loneliness, and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review. Otolaryngol. Neck Surg. 2020;162:622–633. doi: 10.1177/0194599820910377. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jiam N.T.L., Li C., Agrawal Y. Hearing loss and falls: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Laryngoscope. 2016;126:2587–2596. doi: 10.1002/lary.25927. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources