Photo credit: Thomas Widmann
CBS News reports on a new study that concludes that millions of Americans face the prospect of losing their hearing as they age. The study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimates that “[a]mong American adults 20 and older, hearing loss is expected to increase from 44 million in 2020 (15 percent of adults) to 73.5 million by 2060 (23 percent of adults),” with the greater increase among older Americans. As a result, “there will be an increased need for affordable interventions and access to hearing health care services.” Says lead study author Adele Goman, “[h]earing loss is a major public health issue that will affect many more adults,” and “to address this issue, novel and cost-effective approaches to hearing health care are needed.”
Or perhaps prevention would be a better tactic?
Dr. Debara Tucci, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, would agree. She tells CBS News that “people aren’t doomed to lose their hearing as they age.” “The most common cause of hearing loss is prolonged exposure to loud noise,” adds Dr. Tucci, “which includes loud music and a noisy workplace.” Prevention, then, should be a rallying call among the medical profession, particularly public health officials. This is especially important since the litany of horribles that befalls older adults who suffer hearing loss goes well beyond difficulty hearing. The list includes: higher incidences of depression and anxiety, higher rates of hospitalization and of falls, and even “evidence of an association between hearing loss and mental decline.”
Coupled with the recently released and updated information concerning hearing loss from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this study is a wake-up call to the medical and audiology professions and the public. Simply put, there is a low-cost and 100% effective way to tackle noise-induced hearing loss–preventing it from occurring in the first instance.
