A new breed of products that utilize the latest wireless technology are offering promising alternatives for people with hearing loss, The New York Times reports. 
 

People like Larry Faust, 61, of Seattle, who went to a lot of rock concerts in his youth and is now hard of hearing.
 

"My wife has been bugging me for several years to do something about my hearing," Faust told The Times. "I spent part of the summer of 1969 at Woodstock. So that probably didn’t help."
 

Instead of going with a hearing aid through an audiologist, Faust purchased a device that is classified as a personal sound amplifier product, or P.S.A.P., designed to amplify sounds.

Unlike hearing aids, P.S.A.P.’s are exempt from Food and Drug Administration oversight and can be sold as electronic devices directly to consumers and come with many features and vary widely in price.
 

While some hearing professionals have long cautioned against the devices, many also say that a new generation of P.S.A.P.s that utilize the latest wireless technology are offering promising alternatives for some people with hearing loss.
 

The device Mr. Faust bought, the CS10 from a Chicago-based company called Sound World Solutions, cost $299.99, thousands of dollars cheaper than most digital hearing aids. While it has many of the same features that high-end hearing aids have, it comes with software that enables consumers to program it themselves unlike most wireless hearing aids.
 

The CS10, which looks like a cross between a Bluetooth headset and a hearing aid, may pave the way for hearing aids in the near future.
 

Most hearing aids with wireless capabilities currently use either a proprietary wireless platform or older Bluetooth technology, and require an intermediary remote-control-like device or a body-worn device to connect the hearing aid to cellphones, televisions or Bluetooth-capable speakers. By contrast, the CS10 requires only one external rechargeable battery that fits behind the ear like a traditional hearing aid.
 

Not surprisingly, hearing aid companies are investigating more efficient forms of Bluetooth technology such as Bluetooth Smart — now used by gadgets like Fitbit and Nike Fuelband — that would enable their products to skip the intermediary device.