According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1.5 billion people experience some degree of hearing loss globally – a number that’s expected to rise to 2.5 billion by 2050.
Hearing loss is actually much more common than many people realise, with 50% of people over 55 and 80% of people over 70 having some degree of loss.
And a lot of young people are at risk of damaging their hearing.
This year’s World Hearing Day, organised by the WHO, focuses on safe listening habits. Our audiologist Laura Ewen sat down with GP and medical broadcaster Dr Hilary Jones to talk about the signs of hearing loss, the dangers of listening to loud music through headphones and the steps you can take to care for your hearing.
Dr Hilary Jones was talking to Laura Ewen on his podcast, The Dr Hilary Show. To watch the full episode, follow the link.
Dr Hilary Jones: Fifty percent of people aged 12–35 are at risk of hearing loss because of their lifestyles. Does this alarm you as an audiologist whose mission is to help people with their hearing loss?
Laura Ewen: Many young people are at risk of damaging their hearing just through recreational activities such as listening to loud music or audio through headphones or gaming headsets. The damage that we do now will prevent us hearing in the future .
Dr Hilary: I think people get confused about the different causes of hearing loss, you must see thousands of people for all sorts of reasons?
Laura: There are many reasons for hearing loss, but two of the most common are age-related hearing loss, which is just a natural deterioration of the tiny hair cells in the inner ear, and noise-induced hearing loss, where those hair cells are damaged by exposure to loud noises.
Dr Hilary: People who can't hear properly miss out on so much socially. They stop going out, they stop engaging at parties and in conversations in pubs or clubs. Why do people neglect their hearing for too long when something could be done about it?
Laura: Hearing loss comes on so slowly in most cases that it's something that people just get used to over time. They notice people mumbling, they can't hear as well whether in group situations or if there's any background noise. Since it creeps up on people, they tend to put it off. But the sooner we do something about it, the better the results.
Dr Hilary: Isn’t that really frustrating for them and their loved ones?
Laura: Absolutely. There’s a huge number of families who come into our clinics where it's the husband, the wife, or the son or daughter, who are actually more affected by the hearing loss every day because they've watched their loved one fade away. They've watched their family member take themselves out of family events and parties and they stop having as many conversations. To see the family come back once they've been fitted with a hearing aid and see the difference in that person it makes it really special.
Dr Hilary: What makes people so stubborn about waiting so long to see somebody about their hearing?
Laura: There are a couple of things: people don't want to admit that they may be getting a bit older and starting to notice a problem with their hearing, and also people are a bit put off by the idea of wearing a hearing aid.
Dr Hilary: What advice do you have for younger people who are playing personal devices at a very loud volume?
Laura: We're recommending the 60/60 rule: listening to headphones or a gaming headset at 60% of the volume for no more than 60 minutes at a time. Then take a break, give your ears a little rest and that really will make a difference to protecting your hearing.
Dr Hilary: So your hearing recovers after that 60 minutes if you give your ears a chance?
Laura: It can just help take off some of the pressure from your ear’s hair cells and just gives them a break so it’s not prolonged exposure to loud noises.
Dr Hilary: Is wearing ear protection in certain trades (e.g. using power tools) important as well?
Laura: Absolutely. There's so much noise exposure in certain employment. We would definitely urge anyone exposed to sounds over 85 dB to use ear protection or headphones. They're nice and comfortable now and there's lots of modern versions so they can be easy to wear.
Dr Hilary: People might walk past one of your clinics and say, “I don't think I can summon the courage to go and see an audiologist just yet.” If that’s the case, is there an online test that people can do at Hidden hearing?
Laura: There’s a five-minute online hearing test on our website. You can do it in the comfort of your own home and it can indicate if your hearing is normal or if there is the start of a problem. If it’s the latter, we would urge you to come in and get that full hearing test. All of our clinics offer free hearing assessments.
Dr Hilary: What's the next step? What advice do you give people who have hearing loss?
Laura: If we identify hearing loss, we’ll go through various options. First of all, we’ll give you your full results so that you know exactly where your hearing falls on a graph called an audiogram. Then we’ll talk about whether hearing aids are the right route to go down. You can try them on, we’ll talk through all the different options of what's available but you’ll be able try the right model for you to see how they respond to sound.
Dr Hilary Jones was talking to Laura Ewen on his podcast, The Dr Hilary Show. To watch the full episode, follow the link.
Alternatively, you can take our online hearing test. It’ll give you an indication of how well you can hear, only takes five minutes and we’ll email you your results straight away
