This week the federal government opened the door for over-the-counter hearing aids. You can buy them online and at big box retailers.  

• The law allowing over-the-counter hearing aids passed in 2017 but it has taken this long to get regulations in place.
• Big names, including Bose and Sony, have already launched products ranging in price from $999 to $1,200. That’s a third of the price of devices sold by audiologists.
• 15% of adults report some hearing problems
• White males are the highest demographic of Americans with hearing loss. Black adults report the lowest percentage of hearing loss. 

The Bloomberg monitor that predicts the likelihood of a recession in the coming year has risen from 65% to now 100% likelihood.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that doctors really dislike it when you call them by their first name, and men are much more likely to do that. Patients are more likely to use a female physician’s name while calling a male physician “Doctor.”

How would you feel about your loved ones composting your body rather than choosing burial or cremation? “Terramation” is real in five states now, and others are considering allowing it. It gives new meaning to “from dust to dust.”