Hearing Aids and Hearing Loss Resources

What does hearing loss sound like?
Fred Flintstone Video Hearing Loss Simulation (1 min). Clarity is lost with hearing loss.
The Journey of Sound to the Brain (2+ min)
What does high-frequency hearing loss sound like? (51 seconds)
Hearing Loss
Hearing Loss Statistics (this website)
- Use Assistive Listening Systems:
- Listen to the clean sound (this website)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards (this website). You have civil rights and legal rights to hear in public and private places.
- Support, education, information, advocacy. Hearing Loss Association of America, HLAA (website)
- Catalogs and stores (this website) that sell assistive listening devices, including phones, personal listening systems, and TV headphones.
- Why restaurants are so loud, and what science says we can do about it 6/2/24 Washington Post (webpage)
- Hearing Tests: audiologist or hearing instrument specialist, Review of 10 online hearing tests (webpage) and 2-page paper (pdf) test from Better Hearing Institute. Ida Institute: My hearing worksheet (1 page, pdf)
- Hearing Number (website)
- Beck, D. et al. (Feb 18, 2025) Untreated Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, and Cognition: Correlational Outcomes 2025, HearingTracker.
- The ACHIEVE study, dementia and hearing aid use (website)
- Campos et al. (14 June 2023) Consistent hearing aid use is associated with lower fall prevalence and risk in older adults with hearing loss Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.


Hearing Aids
- Article, Hearing Health for Older Adults: What Older Adults Need to Know About Hearing Loss. National Council on Aging (NCOA). 5/13/22. Whyman and Sterkens (webpage)
- How to Find a Good Audiologist (webpage). Hearing Tracker 2022. See section on “What if I need hearing aids?”
- Open Letter (webpage) to Hard of Hearing Consumers and Patients. K. Cavitt, AuD. July 23, 2023
- NIDCD free publications on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants, with both English and Spanish versions. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
The most important decision is choosing your audiologist. They will help you decide which hearing aid options would work for you and customize your hearing aids and
- OTC hearing aids: What Do Consumers Need To Know? Manchaiah et al, (webpage) and HLAA Tips (1 page, pdf)
- Hearing Aid reviews: Consumer Reports Hearing Aids and Hearing Tracker
- Tinnitus resources, James Henry, PhD (webpage)
5 expert tips for using hearing aids effectively on the phone
Insurance and Purchasing Hearing Aids
Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover the purchase of hearing aids, but will often cover cochlear implants. However, Medicare usually covers hearing tests.
Professional audiologist associations (AAA, ADA, and ASHA) Support Critical Medicare Audiology Bill, H.R. 2757
Senators Warren, Paul, Grassley Reintroduce Medicare Audiology Access Improvement Act in U.S. Senate (June 26, 2025)
Local resources, usually in the city, region, or state
- Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Hearing the Call
- Local clubs, such as Sertoma or Lions
- Local Speech and hearing centers, audiology clinics that are nonprofits
- Organizations for older adults
- State’s Department of vocational rehabilitation
- State Medicaid program

Hearing Aid Industry Map v12 – Updated for 2024 (1 page, pdf).
This is the 12th edition of its map that tracks ownership, investment, and private-labeling relationships within the hearing aid industry. There are over 120 hearing aid brands and subsidiaries in organized groups under their respective parent companies. From Hearing Tracker.







