As most of you can attest, our senses change as we get older.

Precisely on schedule (my 46th birthday, as I'd been warned), I needed reading glasses. Identifying odors becomes more difficult with age in men and women. Salty or bitter things become a little harder to detect.

But the hardest-hitting loss is hearing — not just because it's so common (more than half of people aged 60 and older are hard of hearing or deaf) — but because so many hearing-impaired people have trouble acknowledging it. A stigma exists that doesn't with any other sensory change.

"We don't treat hearing loss as a human condition, but a handicap" writes Paul Sass, General Manager of Costco's Hearing Center in Issaquah. "We need to educate people to accept help, just like they do eyeglasses."

The average person who buys a hearing aid waits at least five years. The longer hearing loss goes untreated, says Sass, the harder it is to retrain the brain to recognize sound. "The brain needs time to recognize these new sounds and categorize them, which then allows you to respond appropriately. New hearing aids can involve several months and office visits for this train-the-brain process to take place."

Untreated hearing loss can have serious consequences, including misunderstandings with friends and co-workers (especially women and children, whose high-pitched voices stop being heard first), increased isolation, family problems (it's plain irritating to be asked, "Huh?" several times in ordinary conversation) as well as falls and broken hips resulting from poor balance.

The average person who buys a hearing aid is 70 years old. However, a recent study by The EAR (Education and Auditory Research) Foundation and Clarity, a supplier of hearing devices, found that half of the 76 million baby boomers between the ages of 40 and 59 experience some degree of hearing loss. Earlier estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics indicated 20 percent in this age group had such problems. Since hearing loss is often due to exposure to loud noises, we can thank rock concerts, construction equipment, jets, car engines and even lawn mowers for this dramatic increase in early hearing loss.

Besides stigma, however, the biggest barrier to fixing the problem is cost. A pair of digital hearing aids typically run $4,500 to $5,500. Uncovered by most insurance and Medicare, this fee can be out of reach for many.

Now there's good news for people who need hearing aids but can't afford them.

Three years in development, the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing in Seattle — the largest cornea transplant center in the United States and provider of donated hearing aids and other services for more than 40 years — has launched a new nonprofit program to address this need.

Called AUDIENT Alliance for Accessible Hearing Care, the program provides access to deeply discounted digital, behind-the-ear hearing aids to people (of any age) whose income is above the government's established poverty line but below the normal standard of affordability.

Translation: You must earn $23,500 or less in annual income to qualify (assets aren't counted except as they contribute toward your income). To begin, you fill out an easy form with proof of income and mail it to the AUDIENT office; in 48 hours, someone will call to arrange a referral to a participating hearing-aid provider near you. That's it.

The total cost to you — for two digital hearing aids — is $1,040 and includes an audiological assessment and diagnostic evaluation, treatment planning, ear mold and hearing-aid dispensing and orientation, two aural rehabilitation follow-up visits and an outcome measure questionnaire, a 30-day trial period and a one-year loss and damage warranty. In addition, AUDIENT can arrange low-interest financing.

The service is available nationwide because one of AUDIENT's partners, EPIC, identifies and screens qualified experts in hearing evaluations and treatments throughout the country. And the fee is reduced because all of the alliance's partners, including those who test and fit you with a device, have generously agreed to discount their products and services to participate.

"Of the 22 million people in the United States who need hearing aids, 8.8 million can't afford them," says Mike Langhout, AUDIENT's president. "These are our target customers, and 220,000 are in the Pacific Northwest."

For more information, call toll free 1-877-AUDIENT or 206-838-7194, or go online to www.audientalliance.org.

Liz Taylor's column runs Mondays in the Northwest Life section. A specialist in aging and long-term care for 30 years, she's worked with thousands of families and their elders. E-mail her at growingolder@seattletimes.com or write to P.O. Box 11601, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. You can see all of her columns at www.seattletimes.com/growingolder/.