Hearing aid styles

Hearing aids vary a lot in price, size, special features, and the way they're placed in the ears. Using two hearing aids may help you hear better, especially if you have hearing loss in both ears.

Most people get hearing aids programmed with a prescription for their hearing loss. Adults in the U.S. age 18 and older with mild to moderate hearing loss can get hearing aids without a prescription.

Hearing aids you get without a prescription come in fewer styles and offer fewer features than prescription hearing aids do. Talk to your healthcare professional about the pros and cons of both.

You can get hearing aids that don't need a prescription without a hearing exam. But it's good to get a hearing exam before getting any hearing aids.

The following are common hearing aid styles. Some are small and harder for others to see in the ear. Hearing aid makers keep making smaller hearing aids because people want hearing aids that are hard to see. Other hearing aid styles need to be bigger to have the power to improve hearing enough and to give more features.