A long-awaited Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposal would allow millions of consumers to buy over-the-counter hearing aids in stores or online without a prescription or medical exam.

The FDA’s recent move to make hearing devices more accessible and affordable for millions of patients with mild to moderate hearing loss is the first step in a process that could make them available to consumers as soon as the fall of 2022.

Over 37 million Americans, or 15 percent of adults, have trouble hearing, according to the FDA, but only about one-fifth of people who can benefit from a hearing aid use one.