On June 7, the University of Pittsburgh will host an OTC Hearing Aid and Hearing Self-Care Symposium that will bring together experts in pharmacy, audiology, and public health. The symposium aims to discuss the benefits of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for enhancing patient access to hearing health care in the United States. With around 30 million adults experiencing some level of hearing loss, only a small percentage of them seek hearing aids despite their potential benefits.
The FDA introduced a new category of OTC hearing aids for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss in the fall of 2022 as part of an effort to address this issue. During the symposium, pharmacists and audiologists will collaborate on promoting the safe and effective use of hearing health care solutions. They will discuss various topics such as public health, regulations, interprofessional practice, and implementation strategies for OTC hearing aids.
Keynote speaker Kelly King, an audiologist and program officer at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders from the National Institutes of Health, will share insights from her work at the NIH. The University of Pittsburgh has been an early proponent of OTC hearing aid education. They offer an online interprofessional course developed by experts in pharmacy and audiology like Lucas Berenbrok and Elaine Mormer. The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) holds an exclusive license agreement to offer their Pharmacy-Based OTC Hearing Aids training program developed by the University of Pittsburgh.
Interested individuals can now register for the symposium on otchearingaids[at]pitt.edu [and both pharmacist and audiologist continuing education (CE) credits will be available].