“You may be surprised! Nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years or older have enough hearing loss to make communication difficult,…..”
The following written content by Elizabeth Brassine, Au.D.
How prevalent is hearing loss in America? You may be surprised! Nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years or older have enough hearing loss to make communication difficult, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Nov. 14 Archives of Internal Medicine. The findings, thought to be the first nationally representative estimate of hearing loss, suggest that many more people than previously thought are affected by this condition. The study was led by Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Using the World Health Organization’s definition for hearing loss (not being able to hear sounds of 25 decibels or less in the speech frequencies), the researchers found that overall, about 30 million Americans, or 12.7% of the population, had hearing loss in both ears. That number jumps to about 48 million, or 20.3%, for people who have hearing loss in at least one ear. These numbers far surpass previous estimates of 21 to 29 million.
Hearing loss prevalence nearly doubled with every age decade, with women and blacks being significantly less likely to have hearing loss at any age. Lin and his colleagues aren’t sure why these groups appear to be protected. However, he notes that the female hormone estrogen, as well as the melanin pigment in darker skin, could have a protective effect on the inner ear.In the meantime, Lin says, the new numbers greatly impact the work he and other researchers are doing on hearing loss and its consequences, which, according to previous studies, include cognitive decline, dementia, and poor physical functioning.
Lin’s research also looked at a link between hearing loss and the risk of falling in middle aged-adults and the elderly. They found that hearing loss triples the risk!
So, how does someone know that they have hearing loss? There are several signs or symptoms that suggest hearing loss is present. These are things like having trouble hearing over the phone, finding it difficult to follow conversations especially when there are multiple speakers, needing to turn up the television, having difficulty hearing in background noise, or saying that others around them are mumbling, etc. Read more from Living Well.
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