If you’ve ever had to buy a hearing aid, you know they are very expensive. There are governmental rules in place that control these prices, so people with moderate hearing loss suffer even more. It costs about $2,200 to be fitted for hearing aids in the States. But there are hearing aids out there for $50 or less. One Clark has talked about is called the Songbird. But we can’t just go buy these devices because the laws require that we go through intermediaries, which charge massive mark-ups. Luckily, there is a fellow consumer and inventor who is on a mission to make it affordable hearing aids possible in the United States. Mead Killion, a hearing-aid pioneer and physician, recently found very sophisticated hearing aids in a foreign country for about $60 each. He brought them back to the States and sold them to his patients for very affordable prices. They work just fine. More consumers are also buying hearing aids from Web sites and they’re saving a fortune. Now, Killion is “battling a tight-knit group of licensed specialists who by law are the only people allowed to dispense hearing devices,” according to the Journal. The hearing aid industry has been able to convince the FDA that people should not be able to buy their own hearing aids. They claim it’s risky because the gadgets need to be tested and adjusted to fit various hearing types. It’s simply not true, as was proven by Killion at a recent seminar where he had people test expensive devices and over-the-counter ones. The over-the-counter aids, which are found at sporting goods stores, worked much better than the $2,000 ones. For everyday moderate hearing loss, this is great news. Think about those reading glasses you can buy at drug stores that cost very little but help a lot. Why can’t we buy hearing aids over the counter? It’s ridiculous.