
If you are shopping for hearing aids on a budget, two names come up more than any others: MDHearing and Audien. Both sell direct to consumers, both are FDA-registered OTC brands, and both promise to cut the clinic markup out of the equation. But they take very different approaches. Audien’s headline is a $99 price…

Every few years, a product comes along that changes what people expect to pay. In hearing aids, that product was the Audien Atom. When it launched at $99 a pair, it undercut the entire industry by an order of magnitude. Traditional hearing aids cost thousands. Even other budget OTC brands charged several hundred. And here…

Audien made its name with the $99 Atom, but the company’s lineup has grown into a full family of devices. The most common point of confusion for shoppers is the choice between the Atom series and the Ion series. They are both affordable, both rechargeable, both FDA-registered OTC hearing aids. But they are designed for…