
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…

MDHearing has been selling affordable hearing aids online since long before OTC hearing aids were a regulatory category. The Chicago-based company built its reputation on a simple idea: cut out the clinic markup, sell direct, and support customers by phone and video instead of in person. With the VOLT 4 now listed at $397 a…

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…