In an April 2013 report, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that about 15 percent of the adult population worldwide has hearing loss, and one-third of people who are 65 or older have hearing loss that affects their lives significantly. However, impoverished countries have more adults with hearing loss than in wealthier countries.
This is a problem because poorer countries are less likely to have the infrastructure and technological means to support those living with hearing loss, and they are less likely to have a national health system that can subsidize hearing aids and other assistive listening devices. Also, 90 percent of the world’s chronic ear infections are located in less affluent countries, suggesting that hearing loss in these places is caused by lack of access to proper healthcare.
Why you should donate old devices
WHO estimates that about 72 million people worldwide could benefit from hearing aids, but hearing aids and the services that go with them are expensive, (as you might know) so only enough hearing aids are being produced for 10 percent of the 72 million people who could benefit from them. In developing countries, even less people who need hearing aids get them. But, what many people don’t realize is that hearing aids can be donated and reused. If you or someone you know has old hearing aids laying around that are less than 10 years old, you might want to consider donating them.
How and where to donate
Lions Club International has a long-running drive to recycle hearing aids to help people around the world who can’t afford to buy them. Lions Club has hearing aid collection boxes at different locations like libraries, optometrists’ offices and senior centers. You can go to the organization’s website to find a collection location near you. Or, you can mail your hearing aids to an official Lions Hearing Aid Recycling Center.
When you donate your hearing aids, consider putting them in a sealed bag first to keep them as a pair. An audiologist in Northern Arizona says that hearing aids can still be donated if they are broken – they will be repaired if salvageable and, if not, used for their parts.
