As a user of hearing aids, profoundly deaf from birth, I am against the philosophy of purchasing hearing aids over the counter, unencumbered from audiology prescription fittings and diagnostics. There is absolutely no come-back on this. Sure, hearing aids have come on in leaps and bounds since the digitization of the chip, and it was not so long ago either, two decades ago there was a switch over from analog to digital, well, in Europe that is. This is just opening up potential lawsuits against hearing aid manufacturers - "I bought this hearing aid from place X for Y dollars and now my hearing has detoriarated, am going to sue for damages", this could be unprecedented and sustained damage to the manufacturer's reputation. Each and everyone who does endevour to purchase over the counter, it does take at least a few weeks for the brain to adapt to the new sounds and could raise false hope "I bought this hearing aid X days ago and not noticing any improvement". Not to mention, that audiologists have spent years to study and how to fit/diagnose/troubleshoot hearing aids based off manufacturers specifications. The human side of getting a skilled opinion from a qualified audiologist on the diagnosis for loss of hearing will be effectively lost. Just no, this is just a recipe for disaster.