Ontario plans to let people with mild hearing loss buy hearing aids without a prescription. The province says the change will come through a legislative amendment in its fall economic update, MobileSyrup reports. Health Minister Sylvia Jones said it will give people more flexibility to get the support they need.
Right now, Ontario law only allows hearing aids prescribed by a doctor or audiologist. That’s why earbuds with built-in hearing-aid features, like Apple’s AirPods Pro, haven’t been able to use them here as hearing aids. Health Canada has already licensed these earbuds as medical devices, but provincial rules got in the way.
The province says existing prescriptions and coverage won’t change. B.C. made the same move in June for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.
It’s not yet clear when Apple will switch the feature on for Ontarians.
Why it matters: Today, getting a hearing aid in Ontario means getting a prescription first. For someone with mild hearing loss, a pair of earbuds they might already own could do the job instead. Ontario is Canada’s biggest market, so once the law changes, expect pressure on the remaining provinces to follow.
