Donate Hearing Aids: Who Takes Used Devices and What You Get Back

Where can used hearing aids be donated?

Four routes appear on the programs' own pages. Each has a different scope, so check the one that fits before you pack anything.

1. Hearing Aid Project. Its donation page, hearingaiddonations.org, states that all used hearing aids are accepted: any age, any brand and any model. You start with its online donation form.
2. Lions Clubs. The Lions recycling page sends hearing aid donors to the Hearing Charities of America donations page, the same Hearing Aid Project site. Its Walmart and recycling center instructions cover eyeglasses, not hearing aids.
3. Hearing the Call, Tampa Bay and Sarasota. Two local programs that describe a hearing aid donation program on their pages.
4. Starkey Cares. A recycling program of Starkey Hearing Technologies, named by the Starkey Hearing Foundation after the Foundation closed its own intake.

The items you send matter too. The Hearing Aid Project page lists what it cannot accept because it cannot refurbish them: expired batteries, eyeglasses, watches, telephones, and opened or used items such as domes, dryers and cleaning supplies.

How does the Lions referral route work?

The Lions Clubs page does not describe a hearing aid drop-off of its own. Under its hearing aids heading, it states that people who want to donate used hearing aids of any age, brand or model can do so through the Hearing Charities of America donations page, where they can ask questions or complete the online donation form.

In practice, that gives you three steps:

1. Open the Hearing Aid Project donation page linked from the Lions site.
2. Fill out its online donation form, or send your questions through that site first.
3. Follow the next steps listed on that page.

A local Lions club may still collect hearing aids; the national page does not say so, so message the club before you drop devices off. The same page tells readers who want hearing aid help, not donation, to contact a local Lions club or district.

Does Starkey Hearing Foundation still accept devices?

No. The Foundation's contact page states that, as of April 2021, Starkey Hearing Foundation no longer accepts hearing aid donations. Some donation guides still mix up the Foundation and Starkey Cares.

The same page points to a separate route. Starkey Hearing Technologies, through its Starkey Cares Program, accepts hearing aids and accessories for recycling. The Foundation says those aids can be cleaned and refurbished for people in need, or salvaged for parts.

Two limits come with that referral:

• It is not a Foundation program. The Foundation's page says so in those words.
• No donation letter. The page states that a donation letter would not be sent.

We read this referral on the Foundation's FAQ only. Confirm the current intake steps with Starkey Hearing Technologies before you ship devices there.

How do device intake and donation acknowledgments differ?

A program that takes your hearing aids does not always send you a record, and a record is not a valuation.

• Hearing Aid Project: a letter or an email confirming your donation is sent upon receipt of the hearing aids.
• Starkey Cares: the Foundation's page states that a donation letter would not be sent.
• Hearing the Call and local Lions clubs: the pages we read state no acknowledgment rule. Ask before you donate if you need one.

What an acknowledgment proves is narrow: the program received your devices. It does not state their value. This page makes no claim on whether a hearing aid donation can be deducted on a tax return. Take that question to the IRS or a tax professional, with the program's letter in hand.

What IRS Publication 526 says about a noncash gift

IRS Publication 526 is the IRS guide to charitable contributions; the edition read here is for 2025 returns. On gifts of property, which is what a donated hearing aid is, it states: "If you give property to a qualified organization, you can generally deduct the fair market value (FMV) of the property at the time of the contribution."

Three conditions sit in that text and the pages around it:

• The recipient has to be a qualified organization. Taking devices is not the test. The Starkey Hearing Foundation, for one, says Starkey Cares is not a foundation program and sends no donation letter.
• The value is the fair market value at the time of the gift. The publication sets the rule; it does not price a used hearing aid.
• Paperwork grows with the amount. The IRS may disallow a noncash deduction of more than $500 filed without Form 8283, and Section B of that form applies to each item, or group of similar items, claimed at over $5,000.

This page does not value a used hearing aid or say whether a given gift is deductible. Keep the program's letter or email with your records.

VA hearing aids: a repair route, not a donation route

Hearing aids issued by the VA have their own route, and it is a repair route. The page of the VA's Denver Logistics Service (DLS) states that veterans who have hearing aids authorized by the VA may send them to the DLS for repair, with VA Form 1107, "Request for Repairs and/or Accessories", in the package. The same form can be used to request replacement tubing, cords or other accessories, and the page suggests contacting the VA Audiology and Speech Pathology Service that issued the aids first.

That page sets no rule on giving away, returning or recycling a VA hearing aid after a replacement or after the veteran's death, and we draw none from it. Before donating VA-issued aids, ask the VA audiology clinic that issued them.

Which local Hearing the Call programs document device intake?

Two Hearing the Call pages describe device donation. Both are local, and their wording differs.

• Hearing the Call Tampa Bay lists a hearing aid donation program that accepts used hearing aids to be refurbished and fit on qualified participants.
• Hearing the Call Sarasota lists a hearing aid donation program that collects used hearing aids for use on missions, non-profit work, repairs or credit towards better technology.

The difference shapes where a device ends up. In Tampa Bay, the page ties donations to fittings for qualified participants. In Sarasota, a donated aid may also serve repairs or a credit toward newer technology.

These two pages do not show that every Hearing the Call location takes devices. Their financial donation links are not device shipping instructions. Call or write to the local office to get its drop-off or mailing steps before you send hearing aids. If you are looking for aids rather than giving them, see free hearing aids.

Buying, selling or reprogramming a used hearing aid

Federal rules give used hearing aids their own label. FDA's OTC rule, 21 CFR 800.30, says a hearing aid is "used" if a user has worn it for any period of time. The prescription rule, 21 CFR 801.422, has the same wording. One exception: an aid worn only during a bona fide evaluation, held in the presence of the dispenser or a professional the dispenser picked, does not count as used.

What the rules put on the product:

• The package. If an OTC or a prescription aid is used or rebuilt, the outside package must declare it.
• The device. For a used or rebuilt OTC aid, the manufacturer must attach a removable tag to the aid that says so.
• Rebuilt means the maker. A rebuilt OTC aid is one the manufacturer has inspected and tested, modified where needed, and reprocessed for the next user.

Selling a used aid, or renting one out, falls under the rule's word for it: a sale "includes a lease, rental, or any other purchase or exchange for value." Before you buy one secondhand, ask for the original package, and for an OTC aid the tag, since that is where the rules place the used or rebuilt statement.

Reprogramming. Neither section uses the word "reprogram". For OTC aids, the rule describes tools, tests or software that "allow a lay user to control the device and customize it sufficiently" to meet the user's hearing needs. For a used prescription aid, ask a clinic in writing whether it will program a device it did not sell, and what it charges. If you are giving an aid away instead, the donation routes above apply.