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America's Leading Independent Hearing Aid Evaluation Laboratory

Independent lab testing and evidence-based rankings of prescription and OTC hearing aids.

HearAdvisor
HearAdvisor Staff
Mar 3, 2026How We Test

HearAdvisor's mission is to provide consumers with the objective data they need to make more informed hearing aid purchasing decisions.

Our values
1

Independence and Transparency

HearAdvisor is independently owned with no industry investors or outside stakeholders. No company can buy a better score, a higher ranking, or a positive review. We publish our data and methodologies openly so anyone can verify our work.

2

Integrity and Honesty in Reporting

We believe in reporting the truth, even when it is inconvenient. If our findings challenge industry narratives, we still publish them so shoppers get objective facts and makers receive clear feedback.

3

Evidence-Based Science

Our hearing aid sound performance scoring approach is based on the most current evidence in the peer-reviewed academic press. To learn more about our methods, see our white paper.

HearAdvisor is run by two doctors of Audiology and a Ph.D. of hearing science.

Our lab team
Abram Bailey, Au.D.

Abram Bailey, Au.D.

Founder, Business Development

Dr. Bailey is a leading expert on consumer technology in the audiology industry. He advocates for patient-centered hearing care and supports innovations that improve access to quality outcomes. He earned his Au.D. from Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Steve Taddei, Au.D.

Steve Taddei, Au.D.

Founder, Lab Director

Dr. Taddei is a licensed audiologist in Rockford, Illinois, and teaches courses in acoustics, hearing conservation, and audio arts. He remains active in the music and audio engineering community and works to promote self-advocacy and hearing health awareness.

Andrew Sabin, Ph.D.

Andrew Sabin, Ph.D.

Scientific Advisor

Dr. Sabin completed a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. He later founded Ear Machine, a startup acquired by Bose that helped launch the first FDA-approved self-fitting hearing aid, and now serves as a Research Franchise Lead at Bose.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our goal is to evaluate hearing aids in realistic environments and with the most common settings. We built a custom laboratory to create these environments and use an industry-standard acoustic manikin to make recordings. Those recordings are passed through validated models from the hearing science literature to produce the scores you see on our site. Visit our How We Measure page for a video overview and our detailed white paper.

Our methods leverage the best our scientific community has to offer; however, no testing method is perfect. We cannot account for every hearing loss or all of the ways devices can be programmed. We remain humble and continually improve our v1.0 methods.

We are an independent test lab. We do not sell hearing aids, and companies cannot pay for positive reviews, higher scores, or better rankings. Our work is funded through a mix of lab testing fees for some lower-priority products, licensing of HearAdvisor Expert Choice badges, optional sponsored video packages, and affiliate links with retailers. Affiliate links and paid services are added only after testing is complete and never influence how we test, score, or write about any product.

Though we are separate entities, we work closely with HearingTracker, sharing audio files and performance data with the goal of helping consumers make the most informed decisions about hearing technology.

We also partner with GRAS Acoustics, a worldwide leader in sound and vibration equipment, who helped us configure our anthropomorphic manikin to capture the advanced electro-acoustic capabilities of modern devices.