New research findings announced by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reveal that hearing loss among US adults aged 20 to 69 has declined over the last decade, even as the population of older Americans continues to grow. These findings, published online December 15, 2016 in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, also confirm that hearing loss is strongly associated with age and other demographic factors such as sex, race/ethnicity, and education.

The researchers found that the overall annual prevalence of hearing loss dropped slightly, from 16% to 14%, or 28 million adults in the 1999–2004 period versus 27.7 million in the 2011–2012 period. This decline in absolute numbers was observed despite an increase in the population, and in the relative number of adults aged 50 to 69 in the more recent time period. The new results are consistent with previous findings showing improvements in hearing over time, when researchers compared NHANES data from 1999 to 2004 with data from 1959 to 1962.

“Our findings show a promising trend of better hearing among adults that spans more than half a century,” said Howard J. Hoffman, MA, first author on the paper and director of the NIDCD’s Epidemiology and Statistics Program. “The decline in hearing loss rates among adults under age 70 suggests that age-related hearing loss may be delayed until later in life.”

Researchers found that age was the strongest predictor of hearing loss, with the greatest likelihood of hearing loss in the oldest age group surveyed (aged 60 to 69). Across all ages, men were about twice as likely as women to have hearing loss. In addition, lower education level and heavy use of firearms were associated with hearing loss. Non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to have hearing loss than adults in other ethnic groups, with non-Hispanic black adults having the lowest risk.

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