Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Hearing Aids
A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds louder. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations.
Hearing aids help people who have hearing loss from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear. The damage can occur as a result of disease, aging, or injury from noise or certain medicines.
There are different types of hearing aids. They differ by size, their placement on or inside the ear, and how much they amplify sound. The hearing aid that will work best for you depends on what kind of hearing loss you have and how severe it is.
If you think that you need a hearing aid, you have two different options:
- Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, which you can buy directly. You don't have to get a hearing exam from a healthcare professional first. OTC hearing aids are for adults who have mild to moderate hearing loss.
- Prescription hearing aids, which you get from an audiologist (a health professional who specializes in hearing and balance disorders). The audiologist will program the hearing aids, based on how severe your hearing loss is. You may need prescription hearing aids or other devices if you have significant or complicated hearing loss.
It sits within Ear, Nose and Throat.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Hearing Aids
266 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- WhatsApp AI Support vs Paper Support for First-Time Hearing Aid UsersUniversity of Pretoria
- Benefit of a Clinically Streamlined and Structured Aural Rehabilitation (CSSAR) Program in AdultsCase Western Reserve University
- Clinical Benefit of Hearing Aid Tinnitus Feature on Tinnitus-Related Annoyance in Tinnitus Patients in BelgiumSonova AG
- Noise Reduction With Hearing AidsNYU Langone Health
- Anatomy-Based Fitting in Bimodal Cochlear Implant UsersUniversitair Ziekenhuis Brussel
- Evaluation of Clinical Outcomes of Ponto Procedures Performed in Settings Outside the Main Operating Room (i.e. Out-of-OR)Oticon Medical
Research already completed
- Evaluation of an Open-source Speech-processing PlatformSan Diego State University
- Standard Post Market Clinical Follow-up (PMCF) Study WSA 2026WSAUD A/S
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Hearing AidsNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- Hearing AidsFood and Drug Administration
- Hearing Aids and Personal Sound Amplification Products: What to KnowFood and Drug Administration
- OTC Hearing Aids: What You Should KnowFood and Drug Administration
- Struggling to Hear? Tiny Devices Can Keep You ConnectedNational Institutes of Health
Related Issues
- Buying a Hearing AidAmerican Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery
- Hearing Aids: How to Choose the Right OneMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- How to Get Hearing AidsFood and Drug Administration
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Hearing AidsNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Hearing Aids. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Hearing Aids, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.