Nearly two-thirds of Americans over 70 have hearing loss, yet primary care providers rarely
address it during routine visits yet recognize the importance of hearing loss. Despite its link to
dementia, isolation, falls, brain health, quality of life, hearing remains one of the most
overlooked preventive health concerns—partly because primary care lacks workflows and
tools to help patients navigate hearing care during already over-packed clinical visits

Dr. Danielle Powell, an audiologist and epidemiologist at the University of Maryland in the
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, has received a K23 Career Development Award
from the National Institute on Aging to address this problem through a project called HEAR-PC
(Hearing Education and Access Resource for Primary Care).

The five-year project works on three coordinated fronts. First, Powell and her team will analyze
electronic health records and use machine learning to understand what systems-level
factors—patient factors, clinic structure, provider resources, community access to
audiology—influence whether hearing concerns get identified and addressed in primary care.
Second, she will partner with patients, providers, and care partners to co-design a practical
hearing health toolkit tailored to their needs. Third, she will pilot the toolkit's feasibility in a
University of Maryland Medical Center primary care clinic to gather evidence for a larger
clinical trial.

The innovation is pragmatic: Powell leverages the Annual Wellness Visit, an existing Medicare
benefit that already requires asking about hearing. Rather than creating another program that
demands extra provider time or resources, the toolkit embeds hearing resources directly into
this standard visit—making it scalable and sustainable from the start.
Powell's background uniquely positions her for this work. She combines clinical expertise as an
audiologist, epidemiologic rigor, and commitment to implementation science—translating
research into real-world practice. Her mentorship team spans health informatics, geriatrics,
policy, and hearing health research, guiding her transition to research independence.

If successful, HEAR-PC could become a model for integrating hearing care into primary care
nationwide—and a framework for addressing other preventive health concerns routinely
overlooked in busy clinical visits.