No actionable change in clinical practice; this commentary highlights a policy gap in Canada that audiologists and advocates may wish to engage with through professional associations or provincial regulators.
Regulatory-access disconnects like this one risk leaving OTC hearing aid policy reform incomplete, potentially limiting hearing healthcare access for millions of Canadians with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.
- 01OTC hearing aids have received federal approval in Canada but face provincial-level access barriers.
- 02Authors identify a regulatory disconnect between federal approval and provincial implementation.
- 03Commentary calls attention to unequal access across Canadian provinces.
- 04Published in Journal of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.
- 05Parallels ongoing OTC hearing aid policy debates seen in the United States and globally.
Over-the-counter hearing aids are federally approved in Canada but remain provincially inaccessible.
opinionpartially supportedA regulatory-access disconnect exists between federal OTC hearing aid approval and provincial implementation in Canada.
opinionsupported- PMID
- 42452890
- DOI
- 10.1177/19160216261464500.
- Journal
- Journal of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
- Publication type
- editorial
- Evidence level
- 5
- Population
- Canadian population with hearing loss; policy and regulatory context
- Intervention
- Federal OTC hearing aid regulatory approval in Canada
- Comparator
- Provincial access and implementation frameworks
Primary outcomes
Assessment of regulatory and access gaps between federal approval and provincial availability of OTC hearing aids
