Your OTC Hearing Aid — A Plain-English Guide
Last verified: August 2026
Jabra Enhance, Lexie, Sony CRE, Apple AirPods Pro 2 — compared honestly. How to fit them at home. Return windows. And how to avoid the $4,000 audiologist office trap.
About OTC Hearing Aids
Until October 2022, buying a hearing aid in the US meant a trip to an audiologist's office, three follow-up fittings, and a $4,000–$6,000 bill per pair. Then the FDA approved a new category called over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. Now you can buy a high-quality pair at Walmart, Best Buy, or on Amazon for $200 to $1,800. No prescription needed. This guide cuts through the marketing on the four brands worth considering (Jabra Enhance, Lexie, Sony CRE, Apple AirPods Pro 2) and explains how to fit them at home, return them if they don't work, and avoid the scams that target seniors.
Big news in 2024: Apple AirPods Pro 2 ($249) became FDA-cleared as hearing aids via a software update. For iPhone users with mild loss, this might be the best deal in the entire hearing-aid market.
Common Questions
1 Which OTC hearing aid should I buy?
- iPhone user, mild loss? AirPods Pro 2 ($249, 30-day return at Apple). Cheapest experiment in hearing history.
- Want the most hand-holding? Jabra Enhance Select 50 ($1,295). 100-day return, 3-year warranty, Zoom calls with a licensed hearing professional included.
- Budget-conscious, tech-comfortable? Lexie B2 ($999) — Bose tech under the hood, 45-day return. Heads-up as of 2026: Lexie's parent company is winding down its U.S. operations and ending support, so I'd steer clear of this one for now.
- Want invisible style? Sony CRE-C20 ($999) — almost nobody can tell. Note: Sony discontinued its over-the-counter hearing aids in 2026, so stock is limited to whatever retailers still have.
- Avoid: anything under $100 advertised on TV or in magazines. Those are amplifiers, not hearing aids.
2 Does Medicare cover hearing aids?
- Original Medicare: NO. Hearing aids are excluded by law.
- Medicare Advantage: Some plans include a hearing benefit ($500–$3,000/year). Call the number on your card and ask.
- VA covers fully for eligible veterans — best deal in hearing.
- HSA/FSA: OTC hearing aids are qualified medical expenses. Save the receipt.
- Anyone who tells you Medicare "approved" you for a free hearing aid is running a scam.
3 How do I get a hearing test without a sales pitch?
- Costco Hearing Center. Free real audiogram. No obligation to buy. 30 minutes. Walk out with a printed chart.
- National Hearing Test (nationalhearingtest.org). Free for AARP members. 5-minute phone-based test.
- OTC hearing aid apps. Jabra, Lexie, AirPods Pro 2 all run hearing tests in their app — surprisingly accurate.
- Your primary care doctor can refer you to an audiologist if you want a deeper assessment.
4 Why do my aids whistle?
- Dome too small — sound leaks out, mic catches it. Try a larger dome.
- Earwax in your canal — sound bounces back. Get ears cleaned (doctor or Tilcare kit).
- Receiver clogged with wax — replace the wax guard (the tiny filter inside the ear-end of the aid).
- Dome cracked or stretched — replace with a new one.
5 How do I get TV sound through my hearing aids?
- TV streamer accessory from your hearing aid brand. Plugs into TV's optical or HDMI port. Sends audio directly to your aids. $130–$250.
- Apple TV + AirPods Pro 2: pairs natively. No accessory.
- Roku + smartphone: Roku app has "Private Listening" that streams TV audio to your phone, which can then go to your aids. Free.
- The result: hear the TV perfectly without making the rest of the house crank the volume.
Watch Out For: Hearing-Aid Scams
⚠️ Three common scams. All of them hang-up worthy.
- "Medicare-approved free hearing aids" robocall — Original Medicare does NOT cover hearing aids. Anyone who says it does is scraping your Medicare number for fraud.
- "Free hearing test" storefront (Beltone, Miracle-Ear, Hear USA) — the test is real, the high-pressure two-hour sales pitch that follows is the scam. Walk out at any point. Test results are yours to keep.
- $29 "hearing aids" from magazine or TV ads — these are amplifiers, not hearing aids. Make everything louder (including background noise). Look for "FDA cleared" on the box — only real ones have it.
If you're ever unsure — call me at (330) 200-8042. Free, no judgment. 30 seconds saves a lot of grief.
Want a Real Person?
I bring demo pairs of Jabra Enhance and Lexie B2 on Support Plan visits — try-before-buy, no obligation. If you've already ordered, I'll help you unbox, run the in-app fitting test in a quiet room, pair to your phone and TV streamer, and walk through cleaning. Flat $99 first visit, 30-day follow-up included.
Would you rather I just do this for you?
No shame in it — plenty of folks would rather hand it off, and that's what I'm here for. I'll come to your home, set it up right, and make sure it's working before I leave. Flat $99 per visit — no jargon, no upsell, and every visit is 30-day come-back-free.
Not a hardware job? I can often fix it remotely for $49 — a secure screen-share, up to 2 hours, that you watch the whole time and can end whenever (included free for $39/mo Support Plan members, and it counts toward the $99 if it turns out I need to come out).