Healthy Hearing conducted a national survey of 1,043 people asking how they felt about their hearing compared to their other senses, and what priority they place on hearing. Survey participants were first presented with the hypothetical scenario of doing a heavily tool-involved home improvement project. Only 37.6% of respondents said they would be “likely” or “very likely” to use earmuffs or earplugs. Yet 70.5% of the same respondents said they would be “likely” or “very likely” to wear goggles or glasses. To put it another way, out of eight protective options given, including work clothes, gloves, a respirator, a hard hat, earplugs, goggles, work boots and knee pads, earplugs ranked second to last, just ahead of a hard hat.

Unfortunately, the general response to the home improvement project question wasn’t an anomaly. When respondents were asked to rank 10  items they would be most likely to bring to a sunny outdoor concert (such as sunglasses, hat, sunscreen…) while seated close to the stage, only 34.2% of respondents said they would be “likely” or “very likely” to bring earplugs.  Earplugs ranked second to last and just under hand sanitizer at 36.9%. Ironically, when asked to rank their senses directly in terms of value, 68% of people ranked hearing as most important, after vision (84%).

What about those who already have hearing loss? Are they willing to take measures to improve their hearing? When survey respondents were asked the question “Do you have trouble understanding what people say?” 22% of respondents said “yes.” However when asked if they use hearing aids, only five percent of those same respondents answered “yes.”

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