Awareness, Perceptions, and Literacy Surrounding Hearing Loss and Hearing Rehabilitation Among the Adult Population in the United States

Objective: To characterize current awareness, perceptions, and literacy surrounding hearing loss among the adult population in the United States. Study Design: National cross-sectional survey study. Setting: United States. Patients: Adults between 50 and 80 years of age in the United States. Results: Survey respondents included 1,250 adults between the ages of 50 and 80 years, including 500 who indicated at least moderate hearing loss and were using hearing aids and 750 who denied having hearing loss and were not using hearing aids. Only 9% of patients were able to correctly identify what constitutes a normal or average range for hearing. By comparison, a normal range of values for vision, blood pressure, and total cholesterol were identified correctly by 93%, 85%, and 52% of the 1,250 surveyed adults, respectively. When asked to rank the importance of addressing hearing loss within the context of 10 other common health conditions, hearing loss was ranked third to least important. When considering annual health maintenance, respondents indicated they were very likely to have an annual physical exam (72%), a cholesterol test (70%), an eye exam (66%), and bring their pet to a veterinarian (59%) over twice as frequently as having their hearing evaluated (27%). When evaluating awareness surrounding associations between hearing loss and other health and social issues, less than one-fourth indicated strong awareness about links between hearing loss and depression, employability and income, fall risk, dementia, and type 2 diabetes. While most patients acknowledge the potential impacts of hearing loss on safety, quality of life, and health, less than half believe that hearing loss is treatable and less than 20% believe that hearing loss is preventable. Conclusion: Despite widespread literacy of what constitutes normal vision, blood pressure, and total cholesterol levels, respondents exhibit substantially poorer understanding of normal hearing levels. Most adults believe that few treatment options exist for the management of hearing loss. Underlying the uniformly limited literacy surrounding hearing loss and its treatment options is the adult population's lack of appreciation for the long-term health sequelae of untreated hearing loss.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the awareness and perceptions of hearing loss among adults in the United States. The findings revealed that the participants had limited understanding of what constitutes normal hearing levels and underestimated the importance of addressing hearing loss. Furthermore, they believed that there were few treatment options available for hearing loss and were unaware of the associations between hearing loss and other health and social issues.