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Harlan Countians with hearing issues have a new local option to find assistance with their hearing at the new Five Star Hearing Center located at 107 Island Street in Harlan.
Five Star Hearing Center held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May, 17, to introduce the community to the facility and the services they provide.
Hunter Harvey, owner of Five Star Hearing Centers, talked about the reasons for opening a facility in Harlan during a recent interview.
“We offer complete hearing evaluations and hearing exams,” Harvey said. “We do cleanings, and we do free consultations.”
Harvey explained the initial hearing test is free of charge.
“We don’t charge for the hearing test itself,” said Harvey. “We go over all the options for them, we have affordable monthly options for hearing aids.”
Harvey mentioned Five Star Hearing Center offers hearing aids by multiple manufacturers, which is different than most other hearing aid outlets.
“We actually have an account with all the top manufacturers” Harvey explained. “Instead of just using one manufacturer like most places do, we can use any manufacturer since we’re a private practice.”
Harvey also mentioned the financial aspect of acquiring a hearing aid.
“We’re thousands of dollars cheaper than most places,” Harvey said. “We do have monthly options, and we accept most insurance.”
Five Star Hearing Center in Harlan has been open one day a week – Wednesdays – for a few months while they got the facility in shape. Hours will be expanding to three days a week soon, Harvey said.
“We’ve been open since December while remodeling everything,” Harvey said. “We just now got everything remodeled and things have been going really well, and now we’re having our grand opening and are officially open to the public.”
Five Star Hearing Centers also have offices in Middlesboro and Hazard.
“A patient can go to any of the offices to get service,” Harvey said. “We have someone there multiple days a week in every location.”
Once a patient has their hearing aids, aftercare is available at any Five Star Hearing Center.
“We don’t charge anything for aftercare,” Harvey said. “We have lifetime aftercare. We see our patients four or five times when they first get their hearing aids, then we see them every four months to clean and check them. We also retest them every year once they get their hearing aids, we refit them, all those appointments are always free. They can go to any location. They don’t get charged a dime after they get the hearing aids.”
Harvey decided to open a facility to address the need for hearing aids in the area.
“I grew up in a small town in western Kentucky,” Harvey said. “There is quite a bit of providers there – I’ve worn hearing aids since I was three – I wanted to go somewhere this was needed.”
Harvey says he focuses on availability and affordability. Appointments are required.
“To make an appointment, just give us a call or you can walk in and make an appointment,” Harvey said. “I’m really happy to be here. The people here are great.”
For more information or to make an appointment, call Five Star Hearing Center in Harlan at 606-573-7007.