Hearing Loss Statistics UK & USA

An earlier article ‘Hearing Loss Statistics’ details hearing loss statistics in Australia and in general. This article lists statistics in the USA.

UK hearing loss Statistics
In the UK I found a site which gives lists Deaf statistics This excellent resource lists the UK statistics better than I could Accessed 5/8/08 http://www.rnid.org.uk/information_resources/aboutdeafness/statistics/statistics.htm

USA hearing loss Statistics
People in the USA with a hearing loss projected to 2050. “In less than one generation hearing loss in the USA will grow by one third topping 40 million.”(1)
• 2005 - 31 million people in the US with a hearing loss
• By 2010 – 33.4 million people in the US will have a hearing loss
• By 2050 – 52.9 million people in the US with have a hearing loss
• Only “a few million”(2) are actually Deaf, the rest are hard of hearing
• Approximately 12 out of every 1000 people with a hearing loss are under the age of 18

Screening for loss
• In 2004 Only 12.9% of people were screened by the doctor for a hearing loss down from 20.4% in 1990

Why people purchased an aid (multiple responses) in 2004
• 63.7% Hearing loss got worse
• 52.1% Family members made them
• 55.5% Audiologist or ear doctor told them to
• Other reasons included; safety and work issues, seeing advertisements

Hearing aid use
• Between 1987 & 1997 hearing aid use declined but has increased by 2005
• Average age of hearing aid users 70 years
• Average income of hearing aid users US$55,000
• Only 10.3% of people who could use a hearing aid do use one
• 2004 – 23.5 million people use a hearing aid but only 6.4 million are active users
• Of all users only 69.6% use binaural aids
• The average price of a hearing aid in 2004 was $1,369
• Hearing aid specialists are the primary fitters of hearing aids at 68.4% with audiologists at 22%
• Overall 67.9% of wearers are satisfied with their aids however this increased to 77.5% for those who have aids less than 4 years old.
• 21.3% are dissatisfied
• 16.7% put their hearing aid in their drawer and don’t use it mostly because the aid is too old and gives little benefit

Cochlear Implant use(3)
• 12.6% of school students who are hard of hearing had a cochlear implant
• 87.1% had not had a cochlear implant
• 7.8% of implantees did not use it in the classroom. This compares to 41.3% of students who did not use their hearing aid in the classroom

Reference:
(1) MarkeTrak VII: Hearing Loss Population Tops 31 Million People http://www.betterhearing.org/pdfs/MarkeTrak7_Kochkin_July05.pdf Accessed 5/8/08
(2) Hearing Loss demographics – Deafness Statistics http://deafness.about.com/cs/earbasics/a/demographics.htm Accessed 5/8/08
(3) Annual Survey of Deaf and hard of hearing children 2006-2007 Regional and National Summary http://deafness.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=deafness&cdn=health&tm=162&gps=155_743_1022_741&f=22&su=p284.9.336.ip_p736.8.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//gri.gallaudet.edu/ Accessed 5/8/08