Global Cost of Hearing Loss

Year after year, various world health organizations, including the World Health Assembly, have warned of the rising prevalence of hearing loss. This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a report published in 2021 that shows the extent of the estimated global rise in the prevalence of hearing loss, as well as its estimated future impact on nations.

This report by the WHO revealed that by the year 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people will be living with some degree of hearing loss with an estimated 700 million requiring rehabilitation services.

The WHO warned that failure to address this rising global health issue would result in significant financial losses due to hearing loss’s negative effect on education, employment, and general quality of life.

This information needs to be shared by everyone. Raising awareness of the negative impact hearing loss can have on a person, and how this can also impact the nation, can bring us a step closer to helping more people who may be suffering from this problem.

Many people with hearing loss do not get the help they need. We need to find new ways to prevent hearing loss, or at least to identify it earlier in children and adults, before it becomes debilitating and more costly for everyone.

Let’s take a closer look at the rising prevalence of hearing loss and its estimated global costs.

The Rising Global Costs of Hearing Loss- by the Numbers

In an article published in 2021, titled “Estimating the global costs of hearing loss,” investigators David McDaid and colleagues, looked at data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study that included the societal costs associated with all levels of hearing loss.

The cost models were based on the effects of hearing loss on individuals, from missed days at work, early retirements, increased rates of depression, and reduced quality of life. For children, this also included missed days of school and overall reduced academic performance.

Based on their data, the investigators estimated that the global cost of hearing loss in 2019 is $981 billion. This is up from $805 billion in 2015. This represents a $200 billion increase in only four years.

The investigators also estimated that even modest reductions in the prevalence of untreated hearing loss. For example, they found that even a 5% reduction in hearing loss prevalence would reduce global costs by at least $50 billion per year.

The prevalence of hearing loss research is ongoing. We need to continually monitor public health in this and other areas so we can accurately address global health crises before they become too impactful.

Unfortunately, hearing loss has long been an ignored problem by most governments, including the US. Now we can see the effects of this unrecognized problem. The costs of hearing loss around the world are rising and are already close to a trillion dollars.

We need to encourage our government leaders on both state and federal levels to continue funding this kind of research. Also, we need to do our own grassroots work in raising awareness of this issue by spreading the word among our family and friends.

Rising Costs of Hearing Loss- Why is this important?

Much of the global cost of hearing loss is that many people in the world do not have access to help with this problem. In the US, it is estimated that only about 20% of people with hearing loss wear hearing aids or have seen an audiologist for rehabilitative services.

The new OTC hearing aids that have become available in the US, as of October 2022, will help make hearing aids more accessible to people who would not otherwise have access to, or the desire to see an audiologist, or other hearing healthcare professional.

Check with this website for more information on OTC hearing aids, including our FAQ page and product reviews.

References

Chadha, S., Kamenov, K., & Cieza, A. (2021). The world report on hearing, 2021. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 99(4), 242–242A. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.21.285643

McDaid, D, Park, A, & Chadha, S. (2021) Estimating the global costs of hearing loss, International Journal of Audiology, 60:3, 162-170, DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2021.1883197