Facts About Hearing Loss
Every day, more than 3 million Canadians (or 1 in 10 people) struggle with the devastating consequences of hearing loss. They experience social isolation, they struggle to communicate and they can see the frustration they cause others. For these Canadians, hearing loss greatly diminishes their quality of life.
Hearing loss is not a mere inconvenience. It is a major chronic health problem with far reaching and measurable negative consequences for individuals, families, communities, the Canadian and global economies at large. Hearing loss has been termed a global epidemic by the World Health Organization with 560 million sufferers worldwide.
Statistically, it is the second most prevalent Canadian health problem. Over one in ten Canadians suffer a significant degree of hearing loss due to an increasingly noisy environment, and workplaces. For others it may result from infection, trauma, illness or simply ageing. Whatever the cause, losing one of our primary senses results in a decreased capacity to communicate, which reduces opportunities to participate in relationships that are the mainstay of human life.
Interesting Facts
- The Canadian Hearing Society Awareness Survey of 2001 states that almost 1 in 4 (23%) of Adult Canadians report having a hearing loss.
- 10% of the world’s population has a hearing loss. Many of these people benefit from using a hearing aid.
- 5.2 million 6-19 year olds have hearing loss directly related to noise exposure. (3rd National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Niskar et al. 2000)
- over the last 10 years, the percentage of 2nd graders with hearing loss has increased 2.8 times; hearing loss in 8th graders has increased over 4 times.” (Montgomery and Fujukawa 1992)
