US Food and Drug Administration Commitment to OTC Hearing Aids: Reflections for Canadian Practice

Reframing the role of audiology is based on the assumption that the value of a good or service is defined by the customer. Those that produce the good or service are more successful when they have a clear understanding of these customer specifications and tailor the features of their product to match. If a gap exists between what customers identify as valuable and what is readily available, it presents an opportunity for those that produce the good or service to close that gap by modernizing what they produce. This is an ongoing challenge for audiologists, since what customers want and value often changes regularly over time.