Deafness and hearing loss
Key facts
- By 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss, and more than 700 million will require hearing rehabilitation.
- Unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual global cost of almost US$ 1 trillion.
- Over 1 billion young adults are at risk of permanent, avoidable hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices.
- An annual additional investment of less than US$ 1.40 per person is needed to scale up ear and hearing care services globally.
- Over a 10-year period, this promises a return of nearly US$ 16 for every US dollar invested.
Overview
Over 5% of the world’s population – or 430 million people – require rehabilitation to address their disabling hearing loss (including 34 million children). 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.
Hearing loss and deafness
A person who is not able to hear as well as someone with normal hearing – hearing thresholds of 20 dB or better in both ears – is said to have hearing loss. Hearing loss may be mild, moderate, moderately severe, severe or profound. It can affect one ear or both ears and leads to difficulty in hearing conversational speech or loud sounds.
Hard of hearing refers to people with hearing loss ranging from mild to severe. People who are hard of hearing usually communicate through spoken language and can benefit from hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive devices as well as captioning.
Deaf people mostly have profound hearing loss, which implies very little or no hearing. They can benefit from cochlear implants. Some of them use sign language for communication.
The impact of unaddressed hearing loss
When unaddressed, hearing loss impacts many aspects of life at individual level:
- limitations in communication and speech
- adversely affected cognition
- social isolation, loneliness and stigma
- impact on society and economy
- effects on years lived with disability (YDLs) and disability adjusted life years (DALYs)
- limitations in access to education and employment.
Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss
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