What Are Your Options to Address a Hearing Loss in 2025?

Hearing loss is set to double across the world by 2050, according to the World Health Organization. Untreated, hearing loss can lead to complications with your balance, memory, cognition, and how you communicate with your loved ones.  If you’re here, you already know how hearing loss has affected you – and you’re looking for the best option to manage your hearing and optimize it in 2025. Luckily for you, there’s a myriad of options available that work for different budgets, requirements, and specific hearing needs.  It can be hard to know which one is best for your specific needs, but you’re in the right place. Whether you’re on the hunt for an advanced solution guided by professional expertise or a do-it-yourself fix at home, here are some of your best options for addressing a hearing loss.

Hearing Aids vs. Hearing Care 

While many individuals seek out hearing aids as the “solution” to hearing loss, the truth is that great technology will help, but the guidance and support of a professional audiologist is what makes the biggest difference to your hearing health.  Think about needing a doctor for a specific medical condition – you wouldn’t go to just anyone to address it. With the help of an expert in the audiology field, your hearing loss will be managed efficiently and professionally with personalized treatment that puts your best interests at heart. 

Your Options to Address a Hearing Loss in 2025 

Whether you’re looking for a simple device to amplify sound at home or a more advanced approach with hand-held care, your options to address hearing loss in 2025 include: 

PSAPs amplify all the sound picked up by their built-in microphones. We’d equate these to magnifying glasses that magnify everything within the lens’s scope: great for some situations, but not all.  If you’re struggling to hear in background noise, like in a busy restaurant or bar, a PSAP could help amplify the voices of the conversation you want to hear… but also all the background noise. They amplify all sounds, including the sounds you don’t necessarily need to be louder.

Federally authorized in 2022, over-the-counter hearing aids are an accessible option for those in need of hearing aids that can’t access more premium prescription options.  These are like “readers” you can get at the grocery store; a good fix for some contexts but not all.   Since OTC hearing aids do not come with a prescription for your specific hearing needs, they’re a general solution that might not address more acute hearing struggles, like auditory processing disorder or tinnitus. 

Costco’s hearing aid clinic has long been retailing hearing aids. Their Kirkland-branded devices come after an in-store hearing test, and they can be an affordable option for those with Costco memberships looking to address hearing challenges.  However, due to their retailer status, follow-up appointments or getting repairs/replacements on your devices could leave you waiting for weeks on end.   Costco’s hearing test is a pure-tone audiometry test, which only tests for baseline hearing loss, so your hearing aids won’t be able to address earwax buildup, tinnitus, or other conflicts in your ears.  

In late 2024, Apple revealed that iOS 18 would include some hearing assistive features, including an at-home hearing test and the ability to use the Apple AirPods Pro 2 as assistive hearing devices.  While Apple’s latest foray into hearing care is user-friendly, speedy, and streamlined, the hearing test is a simple pure-tone audiometry test that looks to “cure” hearing loss with simple amplification.   If you take the Apple hearing test and the results point to hearing loss, we encourage you to visit us for a more comprehensive hearing assessment to learn the full scope of your hearing challenges. 

For addressing all scopes of your hearing health, from tinnitus to earwax impaction and more, working with a team of expert audiologists is your most efficient and comprehensive choice.  Your audiologist will assess your hearing to the most detailed degree, and no matter what your results indicate, they will work with you to address any present hearing challenges with personalized treatment that puts your needs at the forefront. 

If you need hearing aids, you can rest assured that your audiologist will provide expert recommendations for your hearing, as well as timely follow-up care, maintenance, replacements, repairs, and more.

We’re more than happy to be your hearing care partner in 2025 and beyond! Our team of trusted audiologists is here to help with every step of your hearing health journey.  Simply request a callback, and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can to help. Alternatively, you can find your closest clinic and give us a call.