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About Us

About

The traditional model of clinic-based, fee-for-service hearing healthcare neglects the needs of fixed-income older adults. This model of hearing healthcare requires multiple visits to multiple providers over several months, utilizes expensive hearing aids ($2000-5000 out-of-pocket) not covered by most insurances and heavily dependents on a person’s access to transportation, financial resources and health literacy. Due to these barriers to accessing hearing care, the majority of older adults with hearing loss go untreated.

Access HEARS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was founded by leading hearing experts and entrepreneurs from Johns Hopkins University with seed money provided by the AARP Foundation. Our mission is to connect people with hearing loss to the technology and resources they need to age well. We employ an evidence-based program co-designed by a diverse group of older adults and piloted in Baltimore City congregate housing to deliver services directly to communities. By offering people a low-cost, in-person or virtual service delivery, teaching them how to use high-quality listening devices and providing them with ongoing support, we overcome the barriers overlooked by traditional hearing care.

Our Devices

We provide our clients with high-quality, over-the-counter hearing devices to help manage their hearing loss. These devices have been approved by leading hearing experts at Johns Hopkins and cost 95% less than traditional hearing aids.

The SoundWorld Solutions HD75R is an OTC (over-the-counter) hearing aid for individuals with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.  It is rechargeable, Bluetooth compatible and comes with a free customization app.

The SoundWorld Solutions Sidekick is a personal sound amplifier testing within 1% of gold-standard hearing aids. It is rechargeable, Bluetooth compatible and comes with a free customization app.
The SuperEar by SonicTechnology is a personal sound amplifier testing within 5% of gold-standard hearing aids. It features rechargeable batteries lasting up to 40 hours and comes with a set of comfortable, over-the-ear headphones.

Schedule a Consultation

One of our experts will contact you within 24 hours.

Impact of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss affects nearly two-thirds of adults 70 years and older in the United States and is strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of social isolation, depression, accelerated cognitive decline, falls, decline in physical functioning, and hospitalization. Of older adults who have hearing loss, 20% of white older adults use hearing aids regularly with even lower numbers among minority and lower-income adults.

We estimate that 6 million Americans ≥ 60 years with a total household income <$20,000 and 4.6 million Americans ≥ 60 years with a FIPR ≤ 1.3 (corresponding to the poverty level at which government agencies provide services such as supplemental nutrition assistance and Medicaid) have untreated hearing loss.