Free Hearing Aids

If you live in the United States and have a hearing loss, you MAY be eligible for free hearing aids regardless of your income. You must have a hearing loss and:

  • be 18 or older
  • be employed

OR

  • preparing for employment (college/university/technical school)

Click here and find your state. Contact Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and make an appointment to meet with the deaf/hard of hearing specialist (you may need to attend orientation first).

After you meet with your VR counselor, you will be referred to an ENT and an audiologist to evaluate your hearing loss and determine if hearing aids are useful for your type of hearing loss. If you need your old hearing aids replaced, they will be evaluated, also. Please be patient as the entire process may take several weeks.

If you are interested in going to college/university/technical school, you will go through a more rigorous process, including psychological, IQ, and aptitude testing. Believe me when I say it is well worth it! VR helped me with tuition, books, gas, and general support while I pursued my undergraduate degree. I was on my own for graduate school, but after I finished my M.A., VR bought me two digital hearing aids and a SmartLink, enabling me to hear my Library customers better and participate in staff meetings.

Vocational Rehabilitation exists for the sole purpose of helping people with disabilities (mental and physical) prepare for and retain gainful employment. If you are already employed (or even self-employed) and need new hearing aids, you will probably be eligible for assistance.  VR is NOT a handout for poverty-stricken people, although poor people are among VR’s clients. If you have difficulty locating the VR office nearest you, contact your local Library for assistance, or contact me, your cyber-Librarian! You can reach me at beethovensears (at) gmail.com.

Cindy

17 Comments »

  1. How to get free hearing aids in the US Said:

    on October 8, 2007 at 10:17 pm

    [...] read her blog entry to find out [...]

  2. bookwritegirl Said:

    on October 10, 2007 at 8:29 pm

    *awe* *jaw drop*

    Wow! I had never realized what exactly VR does for hoh people, until somebody told me on my blog. That really is nice! However, I wish I knew this earlier! :(

    Anyway, I sent off an email to them a couple of days ago…haven’t heard from them yet. (of course, in typical fashion, I forgot to put something in the subject box) *goes to email them again*

    Thanks for telling us about this!

  3. frances Said:

    on October 23, 2007 at 7:32 pm

    i am checking sites for free or very low cost hearing aids for my neighbor, a senior age gentleman who lives in Riverhead, LI, NY. He has a bad hearing loss, does not work, and needs proper hearing aids. Can you help? Thank you.

  4. Stephanie Said:

    on November 5, 2007 at 5:56 pm

    Thanks for the information. I will be calling my state VR for assistances. I will let you knoe the results later.

  5. GEORGIA HANSON Said:

    on December 10, 2007 at 8:53 pm

    my husband has profound hearing loss and i was told you could help him with hearing aids

  6. Cindy from Beethoven’s Ears : The Hear Daily Said:

    on February 29, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    [...] with you better.  Also, more HoH people need to know about Vocational Rehabilitation - see http://beethovensears.com/free-hearing-aids/Is there anything you thought you wouldn’t be able to do anymore, but overcame it some how?  [...]

  7. dmsiggy Said:

    on April 19, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    Hi Cindy!

    I’m trying to find out more about Vocational Rehabilitation. I’m a little confused about certain aspects of it — I was wondering: If I don’t need or want job or educational assistance (the advertised mission of the VR program as a whole)..can I still get free hearing aids? I’m assuming they still would because hearing aids help me in any job I work..

    What If I already have an audiologist I am happy with? Do I need to still go through their own system and determine that “I have a hearing loss?”..I already know for sure that hearings help for my type of loss..do I still go to an ENT and audiologist even though I’ve been to one before?..

    Just wanted to clarify some of those things…

    David

  8. Hoh Said:

    on April 20, 2008 at 12:55 am

    Hi David,

    Yes, VR helps people with disabilities RETAIN employment, too; however, they will send you to one of their vendors (providers of service - audiologist, ENT, etc.) for a thorough evaluation. VR has contractual agreements with their vendors, so you will be referred to a vendor after you meet with the VR Counselor.

    Read this PDF for the Florida VR:

    http://www.rehabworks.org/Files/DocumentsLinks/Individuals%20with%20Hearing%20Loss.pdf

    Hope I answered your questions! Now I’m going to clarify this blog entry!

    Cindy

  9. Vishal Ratnakar Said:

    on May 23, 2008 at 10:09 am

    hi i am poor man i have study for computer engineering in collage so i have hearing aids requirements my both ear 70% db loss

  10. sarah Said:

    on June 3, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Great blog! I did VR for my first pair of hearing aid. they really helped get me a pair that I needed. Now I am a SAHM to 2 children. My youngest is heading into Kindergarten in the fall and I will be entering the work force again.
    Talk about being nervous. My hearing has gotten worse in these 8 years at home.
    I too worried about having children and not hearing them. Everyone has to repeat repeat repeat around here and sometimes its demoralizing.
    I am glad I found this blog, I will be checking back again!

  11. carol robinson Said:

    on July 30, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    i have an uncle 78 yrs old who cannot hear about 3 yrs now. does not have any money for hearing aids i myself have no money. how do i get him a hearing aid . i would love to see him participate in the events at the bldg. he lives he just sits and watches and he would like to be active can anyone give me information . thank you

  12. Anonymous Said:

    on August 11, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    HI CINDY
    I WAS DIAGNOSIS WITH WEGENER’S GRANULOMATOSIS DISEASE . WHEN I GOT SICK IT EFFECTED MY EARS,MOUTH AND NOSE LIKE A UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT.ANY WAY AFTER I GOT BETTER IT HAD DAMAGE MY LEFT EAR BUT I CAN HEAR OUT OF MY RIGHT EAR BUT IT IS STILL HARD TO HEAR THE KIND OF JOB I HAVE IS HELPING PEOPLE AND MOST OF THE TIME ITS HARD TO HEAR THEM.DO U THINK I CAN GET HELP GETTING A HEARING AID FROM THE VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION.

  13. Carl Said:

    on August 12, 2008 at 12:47 am

    My wife was diagnosed with nerve damage in both ears and has lost 50% of her hearing. We cant afford 3, 4, 5 or $6,000 for the hearing aids. We both worked all our lives but medical costs are crippling us. I just had Quintuple Bypass. My insurance left me paying $20,000
    of the $100,000 medical costs. The average person doesnt have that to pull out of a hat and we cant work anymore. Can you suggest where I can take her to get her what she needs?

    Thank You.
    carlvsr@peoplepc.com

  14. T Said:

    on September 3, 2008 at 6:43 pm

    Those of you looking for assistance for the elderly- who are not working. You can use Friends of Man (www.friendsofman.org), Hear Now (through Starkey), Audient (www.audientalliance.org), Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, Sertoma etc.

    There are more sources for kids under 18.

  15. Melinda Mosier Said:

    on September 24, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    Please help me. I need hearing aids. My old one broke several yrs. ago and now I constantly have to ask people to repeat themselves. It does get old and I know they get aggravated at me. I can’t afford to buy them because they are so expensive. I would appreciate any help from you regarding this. Thanks.

  16. Matthew Groff Said:

    on November 15, 2008 at 4:22 am

    I am trying to find my mom help to get hearing aids. She works but cannot afford the cost of the hearing aids and her insurance does not cover hearing aids either.

    She has troble hearing the customers where she works. I had found a place that might be able to help, but we lost the information. We live in PA and need information on if there are any places or groups that can help get my mom hearing aids. She is 64 years of age.

  17. Aaron R Said:

    on November 22, 2008 at 3:38 am

    There is a waiting list that is at least a year long before you can see anyone at DVR in Washington State. Dont get your hopes up to get a hearing-aid through them either. They sent me to have my old one evaluated, and they said my old one is fine, when it’s not.

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