Free Hearing Aids in Colorado: Every Funding Program

If the price of hearing aids has been the thing stopping you in Colorado, there are more doors than most people realize — vocational rehab, the state Commission, university clinics, and charities. The less-good news is that Colorado's Medicaid program leaves most adults out, and the one Denver-metro grant that used to help seniors pay is gone. Below are the funding paths that genuinely exist for Colorado residents — starting with the one you may have already been told to call.

The Denver-Metro Senior Hearing-Aid Grant Ended in 2025

If you've been searching for help in Colorado, you've almost certainly run into the Colorado Gerontological Society hearing-aid grant — the Denver-metro program that put a few hundred dollars toward hearing aids and a hearing exam for adults 60 and older. Plenty of resource pages still list it. Don't spend your time on it.

It was defunded on July 1, 2025. The Society's executive director confirmed it to me directly in September 2026: they administered that program for 17 years, and the funding ended. Their hearing-aid page has since come off their website. This guide led with that grant until she wrote to tell me, and I'd rather you read it here than find out after a phone call that goes nowhere.

Losing it stings, because it filled the exact hole Colorado Medicaid leaves. It was Older Americans Act money routed through the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and without it, Denver-metro seniors are in the same spot as everyone else in the state: vocational rehab if you're working or heading back to work, charities if your income is low, and OTC if you're paying out of pocket.

Health First Colorado (Medicaid) and Hearing Aids

This is the part it's important to be honest about, because a lot of pages online blur it:

• Children and youth under 21: Covered. Under the federal EPSDT benefit, Health First Colorado covers medically necessary hearing exams, hearing aids, fittings, and repairs for members under 21. If a child on Medicaid needs hearing aids, the coverage is there.
• Adults 21 and older: Generally not covered. Colorado's Medicaid audiology benefit lists hearing aids as a non-covered service for adults. That's a real gap — and with the Denver-metro senior grant gone, it's the reason the other routes on this page (vocational rehab, charities, university clinics) matter so much for grown-ups in Colorado.

Vocational Rehabilitation: Colorado DVR

For working-age adults, this is often the single strongest option — and the one almost nobody thinks of. The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, helps people whose disability — including hearing loss — is a barrier to getting or keeping a job. It's the same kind of vocational-rehab agency that covered my own hearing aids in another state.

VR isn't a giveaway and it isn't automatic — it's built around an employment goal. But for someone who's working or wants to be, hearing aids and related assistive technology are a normal part of what these programs provide. Colorado DVR also has Rehabilitation Counselors who specialize in serving people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, many of them fluent in ASL, in offices across the state — so you're not explaining hearing loss from scratch.

Eligibility is reviewed individually, and if you receive SSI or SSDI you're generally presumed eligible. Come prepared to document how your hearing loss affects your work.

Here's exactly how this process works, step by step, from my own experience going through vocational rehab: How Vocational Rehab Got Me a $10,000 Pair of Hearing Aids for Free.

The Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing & DeafBlind

The Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind (CCDHHDB), a state agency under the Colorado Department of Human Services, is the best single "front door" for figuring out what's available near you. It won't hand you a pair of hearing aids directly, but it does two useful things:

• Information, referral & a Hearing Aid Resource Guide. The Commission maintains a resource directory and info-guides — including one specifically on hearing-aid resources — and can point you toward the programs on this page and any local options.
• Communications Technology Program (CTP). This provides assistive equipment — amplified and captioned phones, smartphones/tablets, ring signalers, neck loops, and headsets — at no charge to qualified deaf, hard-of-hearing, and deafblind Coloradans. It doesn't cover hearing aids themselves, but it can make phones and daily life dramatically easier while you sort out aids.

Nonprofits & Charities Serving Colorado

If you aren't working, don't want to wait, or just got the news above about the senior grant, these are worth applying to — most are income-based and need an audiologist's report:

• Lions Club of Denver. The Denver club publishes its process, which most Lions clubs don't. You start with an audiologist at the Marion Downs Center (4280 Hale Parkway, Denver, 303-322-1871, call first). The income limit is $23,760 a year for one person or $32,040 for a couple, counting all sources, and you'll need your last six months of bank statements. Marion Downs handles the paperwork and makes the recommendation to the club. The club's page says the audiologist works under the terms of Starkey's Hear Now program. Hear Now now runs through Starkey Cares, which charges a $300 application fee after you qualify (see below), so ask Marion Downs whether that fee applies to you.
• Other Lions clubs. Outside Denver, help goes through individual clubs, and there's no single statewide number. Find the nearest club and ask.
• Friends of Man. A Colorado charity that lists hearing aids among the things it pays for. You can't apply yourself. A caseworker, social worker, healthcare worker, school counselor, teacher or member of the clergy has to apply for you, so if you already have one of those people in your corner, ask them. It also won't pay for "exams or diagnostic testing," so get your hearing test covered some other way first. A university clinic is the cheap route (see below).
• A.V. Hunter Trust. A Colorado trust that gives one-time grants toward durable medical equipment, and hearing aids are on its list. Like Friends of Man, you can't apply yourself. A case manager, social worker, health aide or member of the clergy applies for you, and that person can't be a relative or anyone connected to the hearing-aid provider. You need 12 straight months of Colorado residency, and it's one grant per person for life. The trust doesn't publish grant amounts or an income limit, so have your caseworker ask. Questions go to info@avhuntertrust.org or 303-399-5450.
• Hearing the Call – Colorado. Its income limit is more generous than most charities on this page. You qualify if your household income is at or under 250% of the federal poverty guidelines, with no more than $10,000 in savings and $50,000 in accessible retirement money. Kids and adults both qualify, and you don't need to be a U.S. citizen. It doesn't hand out cash. You get donated hearing aids (sometimes refurbished, sometimes new) fitted by one of its partner audiologists, and you pay a reduced fee on a sliding scale. In return you do 10 hours of community service, and a family member can do the hours for you. Fittings happen on a few scheduled clinic days a year, and applications are due 30 days before each one, so don't sit on it. You'll need an audiogram from the last 12 months. Call (720) 706-5126 or email colorado@hearingthecall.org.
• Sertoma / Hearing Aid Project. The Hearing Aid Project (c/o Sertoma International) says it helps low-income people get no-cost hearing aids. Its site doesn't publish an income cutoff, so I can't give you one. The catch is who can apply right now. As of late September 2026 it says it is only taking applications from people within a reasonable distance of one of its audiology partners, it doesn't list those partners, and it says it is getting an overwhelming number of applications. Use its contact form to ask whether a partner is near you, and try your local programs first, which is what the project itself suggests.
• Starkey Cares — "Hear Now." A national program for low-income U.S. residents who don't qualify for other help. Two things to know: it now runs under Starkey Cares, which the Starkey Hearing Foundation says is not affiliated with it, and Starkey's Hear Now program sheet says you pay a $300 application fee after you qualify, so it's low-cost, not free. Apply at app.starkeycares.org or 855-686-2202.
• Miracle-Ear Foundation. Provides hearing aids to people with limited income who don't have other coverage, through participating locations.
• HLAA chapters (Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs & Grand Junction). The Hearing Loss Association of America's Colorado chapters aren't funders, but they're excellent local navigators — their volunteers keep current lists of who's helping and how.

Low-Cost Hearing Tests: Colorado University Clinics

Nearly every funding program on this page will ask for a current audiogram, and Colorado's university training clinics test at reduced cost:

• University of Colorado Boulder — Speech, Language & Hearing Center (Boulder / Front Range).
• University of Northern Colorado — Audiology Clinic, Greeley (home of UNC's Doctor of Audiology program).

If You Need Something Now: Low-Cost OTC Hearing Aids

Grants, VR, and waitlists take time. If you have mild-to-moderate hearing loss and need help in the meantime, FDA-regulated over-the-counter hearing aids start well under $100 and don't require insurance, a prescription, or a means test — you can buy them today and still pursue the funded routes above. A few we recommend and track:

• ELEHEAR Beyond Pro — our overall OTC pick: Bluetooth, AI noise reduction, rechargeable. Check price on Amazon →
• Audien Atom X (~$389) — a rechargeable budget option. Check price on Amazon →
• Audien Atom ONE (~$98) — the lowest-risk way to try hearing aids. Check price on Amazon →

How to Verify What You Qualify For in Colorado (3 Steps)

Don't take any list's word for it — including mine. Confirm the current rules straight from the source. It takes about fifteen minutes:

1. If you're 60+ in the Denver metro, don't chase the old senior grant. It was defunded July 1, 2025. Call the DRCOG Area Agency on Aging instead and ask what hearing assistance is funded right now — the answer changes year to year.
2. Know your Medicaid reality. If a child needs aids, Health First Colorado covers it; if you're an adult, assume Medicaid won't and pivot to VR or the charities below. Confirm status at healthfirstcolorado.gov.
3. Contact DVR if you're working or want to — and line up a hearing test at one of the university clinics above to get the audiogram every program will ask for.

Want the national picture too? I've mapped every legitimate funding path — Medicaid, Medicare, VR, VA, nonprofits, and OTC — in one place: How to Pay for Hearing Aids Without Breaking the Bank.

Frequently Asked Questions