Quick Answer: Donate a working old hearing aid to Lions Clubs International (drop it at a local Lions Club or participating Walmart Vision Center), the National Hearing Aid Project run by Hearing Charities of America — formerly Sertoma — (mail it to hearingaiddonations.org), or the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s Starkey Cares program, which accepts any brand and refurbishes devices for people who can’t afford hearing care. Never throw hearing aid batteries in the trash: zinc-air cells contain low levels of mercury, and the EPA recommends taking button-cell batteries to a dedicated battery drop-off instead of the household bin. If your old pair is broken or years out of date, donating it and putting the money toward a current OTC pair usually makes more sense than paying to repair outdated hardware.
A drawer full of old hearing aids helps no one — not you, and not the roughly 28.8 million U.S. adults the NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) estimates could benefit from hearing aids but haven’t gotten one, often because of cost. Several established charities exist specifically to close that gap by refurbishing donated devices. This guide covers exactly where to send an old hearing aid, how to dispose of the batteries safely, and when it’s smarter to recycle the old one and upgrade rather than pay for repairs.
Hearing aid recycling, by the numbers
- Since 2016 — how long the National Hearing Aid Project, run by Hearing Charities of America (formerly Sertoma), has been collecting and refurbishing donated hearing aids through a nationwide network of community groups and state programs, per HearingTracker’s donation resource guide.
- 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from hearing aids, according to the NIDCD — the scale of unmet need that donated, refurbished devices help address.
- Low levels of mercury are present in zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and the EPA advises against putting button-cell or coin batteries in household trash or municipal recycling bins — a dedicated battery drop-off is the safe disposal route.
- Walmart Vision Centers nationwide serve as drop-off points for Lions Clubs International’s eyeglasses and hearing aids recycling program, alongside local Lions Clubs, making donation as easy as an existing errand for many households.
Where to donate or recycle a hearing aid
| Program | What they take | Who receives them | Tax-deductible | How to donate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lions Clubs International | Working & non-working hearing aids | Distributed through Lions programs to people in need | Often, ask your local club | Local Lions Club or a participating Walmart Vision Center |
| National Hearing Aid Project (Hearing Charities of America) | Hearing aids, batteries, cases, chargers | Refurbished and placed with low-income individuals in the U.S. | Yes | Mail to hearingaiddonations.org |
| Starkey Hearing Foundation (Starkey Cares) | Any brand of hearing aid | Domestic and international recipients | Yes | Via the Starkey Cares program |
| Sonova Hear the Word Foundation | Hearing aids (Phonak/Unitron-affiliated) | Recipients in developing countries | Yes | Via Sonova's foundation program |
| HearingLife clinics | Any hearing aid | Collected on behalf of the Hearing Aid Project | Yes | Drop off at any HearingLife location |
| Local audiologist or hearing clinic | Working hearing aids | Often passed directly to local patients in need | Varies | Drop off in person, call ahead |
Lions Clubs International runs the widest network: donations can go through a local Lions Club or, in many areas, a participating Walmart Vision Center, which makes it one of the easiest options if you already have one nearby. If you’d rather your donation go specifically toward hearing aids rather than the club’s broader eyeglasses program, the National Hearing Aid Project and Starkey Cares are both hearing-aid-dedicated and issue tax receipts.
How to dispose of hearing aid batteries safely
Hearing aid batteries don’t belong in the trash. Standard zinc-air hearing aid batteries — sizes 10, 312, 13, and 675 — contain low levels of mercury, and the EPA specifically advises against putting button-cell or coin batteries in household waste or curbside recycling, since incinerating or landfilling them can release mercury into air and water. The fix is simple: most electronics retailers, hearing clinics, and municipal household-hazardous-waste or e-waste drop-off sites keep dedicated battery recycling bins, and any of those is a safe place to bring a bag of dead cells. If you’re still using disposables day to day, our hearing aid batteries guide covers sizing and runtime by brand.
When to donate and upgrade instead of repairing an old aid
Not every old hearing aid is worth saving. If your current pair is more than five or six years old, it likely predates Bluetooth streaming, adaptive directional microphones, and app-based self-fitting — features that are now standard on current OTC models — and a repair bill on obsolete hardware can approach the cost of a brand-new pair. See our hearing aid lifespan guide for how to tell when a repair isn’t worth it. In that case, donating the old pair through one of the programs above and buying current comes out ahead on both sound quality and your budget.
MDHearing VOLT
- Doctor-designed with free lifetime remote audiologist support and a 45-day trial.
- Rechargeable, so no more hunting down zinc-air batteries to recycle.
- Costs less than most repair quotes on a device over five years old.
Once your old pair is packed up for donation, Amazon Prime’s free 30-day trial is worth activating before you order a replacement — two-day shipping means the new pair can arrive right around the time the old one leaves the house, so you’re never without a working hearing aid in between. From there, our best rechargeable hearing aids roundup and best cheap hearing aids guide cover the full range of current replacements, from budget to premium.
Prepping a hearing aid for donation
- Clean it first. Wipe down the shell and remove any visible wax with the brush or wipe from a hearing aid cleaning kit — most programs refurbish devices before reissuing them, but a clean starting point helps.
- Include the charger or battery door, if you still have it. Chargers, domes, and cases are useful to refurbishers even when mailed separately from the hearing aid itself.
- Don’t wait for “like-new” condition. Every program above explicitly accepts non-working units for parts and responsible recycling, so a dead or damaged aid still has somewhere useful to go.
- Keep the donation receipt if the program is tax-deductible, since most charities require you to request one rather than issuing it automatically.
Bottom line
An old hearing aid sitting in a drawer helps no one, and it doesn’t belong in the trash either, especially the batteries. Lions Clubs International, the National Hearing Aid Project, and Starkey Cares all refurbish donated hearing aids for people who can’t otherwise afford care, most donations are tax-deductible, and dropping off batteries at a dedicated recycling bin keeps the mercury they contain out of landfills. If the pair you’re retiring is more than five or six years old, don’t just recycle it and stop there — a current OTC pair costs less than most repair bills and adds features like Bluetooth streaming and adaptive noise reduction that older hardware never had.