Understanding Hearing Loss

In American alone, more than 31.5 million people suffer from hearing loss.
Approximately 3 in 1,000 infants are born with serious to profound hearing loss.
People today are losing their hearing two-and-a-half times faster than their parents and grandparents.
More than 6 million people in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 44 have hearing loss – more than 1 million are school age.
Hearing problems can contribute to many health problems, including depression, hypertension, and a diminished immune system.
Only 13% of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss during a physical

Hearing loss is a natural part of getting older. By age 20, we’ve lost the ability to perceive some of the highest frequencies we can hear. By the time we reach 40, subtle—but significant hearing losses have begun to occur. As we reach our 70-80s, more than half of us suffer from significant hearing loss. With the added factor of prolonged exposure to noise both at work and at home, hearing impairment is becoming more prevalent at earlier ages. Many people with hearing loss are currently actively employed in the workforce, but do not remediate their hearing losses.

Noise levels have increased everywhere. From hair dryers to leaf blowers, lawnmowers, snowmobiles, iPods®, freeway traffic, surround sound speakers and more, we constantly expose our ears to damaging levels of noise. Many people do not realize a single exposure to damaging noise is sufficient to cause permanent hearing impairment. Nor do they realize hearing damage due to noise has a cumulative effect with each additional exposure slowly causing more and more damage to the sensitive nerve fibers of the inner ear.

Work environments are also increasingly loud as well. Some of the noisiest workplaces are those where firefighters, factory workers, farmers, teachers, construction workers and musicians spend a significant part of their day. In addition to the actual worksites having damaging noise levels getting to work is equally hazardous to our ears with trains, and subways exposing us to damaging doses of noise in our daily commuting.

Other factors that may contribute to hearing loss include:

blockage of the ear canal by an object or accumulated cerumen (earwax)
Diseases, infections or medical disorders
Medications and treatments like chemotherapy or antibiotics
Physical trauma to the ears or head.

Many of us don't notice the early signs of hearing loss because we slowly adjust to the change. By the time we realize what's happening, we may have already lost the full appreciation of sounds and the lifestyle we enjoy.