Hearing Loss Prevalence, Years Lived With Disability, and Hearing Aid Use in the United States From 1990 to 2019: Findings From the Global Burden of Disease Study.
Lydia M Haile, Aislyn U Orji, Kelly M Reavis and 22 others
PMID 37712826WHAT IT FOUND
In 2019, an estimated 22.2% of US residents had hearing loss, mostly mild.
Only 9.7% of people with mild to profound hearing loss used a hearing aid. Most cases were in people over 50.
Key findings
01In 2019, an estimated 22.2% of the US population had hearing loss, and hearing loss was the sixth leading cause of years lived with disability.
02Among Americans with mild to profound hearing loss, 9.7% used a hearing aid, and 32.5% had hearing loss concurrent with tinnitus.
03Hearing loss prevalence rose from 17.3% in 1990 to 22.2% in 2019, while age-standardized prevalence was 14.6% in 1990 and 14.7% in 2019.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
These are modeled population estimates, not measurements from a single treated sample, so they describe burden rather than individual patient outcomes. The US estimates relied heavily on NHANES surveys, and some NHANES rounds were not included in the GBD 2019 models. The models did not report state-level results, so they cannot guide state-by-state service planning. Children and infants were not well represented because NHANES audiometric data did not provide the needed person-level bilateral hearing loss information for young children. Tinnitus case definitions required frequent symptoms, so milder or less frequent tinnitus was not counted. Hearing aid use was adjusted by assuming users had better hearing and moving them down one severity level, without data on actual hearing improvement. Disability weights came from general public comparisons, not necessarily from people with hearing loss, and audiometric severity may not match real-world communication difficulty. Estimates were not disaggregated by race or ethnicity, despite known variation. Occupational noise exposure was modeled with industry and occupation as proxies, with limited data on actual exposure levels and hearing protection.
Declared interests
The article lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. Authors declared support for the manuscript from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization, personal fees from the World Health Organization for a World Hearing report analysis paid directly to named authors, and multiple outside grants, contracts, consulting fees, and board roles involving NIH, the US Department of Defense, the US Veterans Affairs, the European Union, the Wellcome Trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and many commercial entities.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the low hearing aid use as proof that hearing aids will reduce hearing loss burden in your patients. The study estimated hearing aid use and assumed users had better hearing because it lacked data on actual hearing improvement.