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It's crazy how expensive hearing aids are considering they are just fancy in-ear headphones. They are literally like 10x the price of the most high end headphones.
My grandfather is really not subtle when he wants me to get him something. He recently wanted hearing aids because the ones he has now with the over-the-ear wires were cutting into his ears. I would've loved to get him some high-end ones, but I'm not THAT well off. I ended up getting him some ~$100 ones. I couldn't imagine $4k.
Look into Costco hearing aid center. They offer high-end, name brand hearing aids at cost.
My last pair was $6500! My current pair was $1500, because I found out that Costco sells them at cost.
They're not just headphones. They're several microphones, speakers, Bluetooth devices, and advanced processing computers to make them sound natural, operate in the correct bands and sound amplification levels, and be small & resilient enough to fit into or onto your ears. There's also the costs of testing, fitting, programming, and all of the other support services that come with them. They do have crazy mark-up everywhere except Costco, but they're not really comparable to a set of ear buds.
Capitalism along with ableism.
They see a desperate need, and they price their products accordingly. Accessibility aids, and healthcare in general, are obscenely overpriced, when they shouldn't even be priced at all.
There are pros and cons to this but big tech has realized they can bury classic medical informatics companies on the small cheap medical stuff. Watches such monitor vitals, thermometers, hearing aids, snoring and breathing, etc. All of it is desired by the mass market. I bought my dad a pixel watch after he had his bypass is a (arguably) useful device that can actually save your life.