The World Health Organisation predicts that nearly 2.5 billion people will experience hearing loss before 2050. Of that number, nearly 700 million people will require some kind of intervention to rehabilitate their hearing loss. To put this staggering number into clearer focus: 700 million people represents 1 in every ten people on the planet.
So, when we ask who is most impacted by hearing loss, the answer begins with an understanding of just how prevalent hearing loss really is. Because the reality is that, while hearing loss does affect certain groups of people more than others, the impact of hearing loss extends beyond the physiological, implicating the mental, professional, and social health of individuals with hearing loss, and the people around them.
In this article, we’ll explore the groups of people who are most likely to experience hearing loss, and review the wider impact of this condition across families, communities, and societies.
What are risk factors for hearing loss?
Hearing loss is most prevalent among people over the age of 60, and tends to disproportionately impact lower-income and rural communities. Hearing loss can also be caused by genetic factors, infection, trauma, nutritional deficiencies, occupation, and chronic diseases.
Hearing loss can occur over time, or it can occur suddenly. Most often, hearing loss is cumulative, and worsens over a period of years. For this reason, hearing loss often goes undetected and unmanaged until it reaches the point where a person’s ability to communicate or engage normally in activities is negatively affected.
There are other reasons why hearing loss might go unmanaged: Historically, there has been a negative stigma associated with hearing loss; individuals might associate hearing loss with aging, or they may be embarrassed that they’re struggling to communicate. As a result, they might avoid seeking diagnosis or treatment.
But even when individuals do seek out hearing testing and treatment, they may still face obstacles to care. Not only does the US have a shortage of trained audiologists, many lower-income Americans, or those who live in rural areas, have incredibly limited access to healthcare, including hearing testing (in this way, lower income and rural Americans often lack access to early, preventative care, as well as diagnosis and treatment in the event that they ultimately decide to seek care). And when it comes to the cost of treatment, the price of hearing aids can easily reach into the thousands of dollars, a non-starter for many patients across the country.
The impact of hearing loss impacts families, communities, and societies.
Lack of access to adequate care and treatment plays no small part in how deeply the effects of unmanaged hearing loss are felt across families, communities, and society-at-large.
Left unmanaged, hearing loss can have wide-ranging and devastating effects on an individual’s mental, physical, and professional health. People who struggle to hear and communicate often suffer from loneliness and depression, and the link between hearing loss and other serious conditions — such as dementia — is well-established.
Individuals living with unmanaged hearing loss often socially withdraw to avoid the embarrassment, difficulty, or awkwardness of trying to communicate or engage with others. Not only does this withdrawal impact a person’s ability to interact with friends and family, it can also impair a person’s ability to do their job, and earn a living.
In fact, the economic cost of hearing loss is huge — it’s estimated that unaddressed hearing loss poses an economic burden of $750M per year globally. This is due to both lost productivity, early retirement, unemployment, and the monetary value attached to avoidance of a year lived with disability. This is a colossal cost to communities around the world, and it’s clear that a better way forward is necessary to start addressing this issue.
Community-based hearing testing can overcome obstacles to care
Evidence demonstrates that early identification and treatment of hearing loss is an incredibly effective tool for mitigating the effects of unmanaged hearing loss among people of any age. With early detection and diagnosis, patients can receive the appropriate care and treatment for their hearing loss, and reduce the likelihood that they will suffer from deteriorating mental, physical, or professional health as a result of the condition. Of course, to successfully seek hearing care, patients must first have access to reliable, accurate hearing testing.
And while hearing tests have historically been available exclusively through appointments with trained audiologists (usually in hospitals or medical centers), community-based healthcare providers are best-positioned to ensure the health and wellbeing of the individuals within their communities, when it comes to early detection and diagnosis of hearing loss.
AUDIMETROID is purpose-built, lightweight technology designed for use by community healthcare providers and retailers. AUDIMETROID is engineered to increase uptake of hearing care and treatment: not only can community healthcare providers and retailers offer uncomplicated access to patients in a variety of settings, they can safely administer hearing screening tests with AUDIMETROID without any formal training in audiology.
Crucially, this accessible approach also enables community healthcare providers and retailers to offer on-the-spot hearing testing, which can support the continuation of care for patients identified as having mild to moderate hearing loss: over-the-counter hearing aids can be recommended, fitted, and purchased immediately following a hearing test, without a patient ever leaving the shop floor.
Ultimately, there are many risk factors that can impact whether and to what extent an individual will experience hearing loss, and these include whether and to what extent they’ve enjoyed easy access to reliable hearing testing and care.
With AUDIMETROID, community healthcare providers can offer patients an easy, fast, painless hearing testing experience that can help drive better outcomes for those who suffer with hearing loss.
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