Over 5% of the world’s population – or 430 million people – require rehabilitation to address their disabling hearing loss. It is estimated that by 2050 over 700 million people – or 1 in every 10 people – will have disabling hearing loss.
‘Disabling’ hearing loss refers to hearing loss greater than 35 decibels (dB) in the better hearing ear. Nearly 80% of people with disabling hearing loss live in low- and middle-income countries. The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age, among those older than 60 years, over 25% are affected by disabling hearing loss.
Once hearing loss is identified, it is essential that it is addressed as early as possible and in an appropriate manner, to mitigate any adverse impact.
Measures available to rehabilitate people with hearing loss include:
- the use of hearing technologies, such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and middle ear implants;
- the use of sign language and other means of sensory substitution,such as speech reading, use of print on palm or Tadoma, signed communication; and
- rehabilitative therapy to enhance perceptive skills and develop communication and linguistic abilities.
The use of hearing assistive technology, and services such as frequency modulation and loop systems, alerting devices, telecommunication devices, captioning services and sign language interpretation, can further improve access to communication and education for people with hearing loss.
(source: WHO https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss)
Ampetronic, leader in designing and manufacturing hearing loop products and technologies, has put a lot of effort in drawing people’s attention to hearing loss. At ISE 2023, beside the newest products, Ampetronic demonstrated a tool which makes it easy to understand how hearing loss feels like.
Let us encourage you to try the simulation to get a better understanding. The simulator is available online on Starkey website:
https://www.starkey.com/hearing-loss-simulator/simulator
