Hearing loss is more common than you might think. Interestingly, due to recreational and environmental noise, hearing loss is occurring at younger and younger ages. Consider the facts:
Hearing Loss Facts:
- Hearing loss is second only to arthritis as the most common complaint of older adults
- Only about 10% of hearing losses are helped by surgery or other medical treatment
- 90% of hearing losses can be treated with the use of hearing instruments
- Only 16% of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss
- Noise above 80-90 decibels on average over an 8-hour workday is considered hazardous
- Firearms, music, airplanes, lawnmowers, power tools and many appliances are louder than 80 decibels and potentially hazardous to hearing with prolonged exposure
- A live rock concert produces sounds from 110 to 120 decibels-easily high enough to cause permanent damage to hearing over a 2- to 3-hour period
Demographics:
- 28 million Americans are hearing impaired, and an estimated 500 million experience hearing loss, worldwide
- In the U.S., one out of twelve 30-year-olds is already hearing-impaired and one in eight 50-year-olds suffers from hearing loss
- After President Bill Clinton was fitted for hearing aids, more than one million other baby boomers identified themselves as experiencing hearing loss
- There are more baby boomers aged 45-64 with a hearing loss (ten million) than there are people over the age of 65 with a hearing loss (nine million)
- More than a third of all hearing loss is attributed to noise: loud music, loud workplaces, loud recreational equipment
- Thanks to the above, we're all losing our hearing at a younger age than we were 30 years ago
- Of the ten million Americans aged 45 to 64 who have a hearing loss, six out of seven do not yet benefit from wearing hearing aids
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