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- Approximately 15% of American adults (37.5 million) ages 18 and over report some trouble hearing.
- Age is the strongest predictor of hearing loss among adults ages 20-69, with the greatest amount of hearing loss in the 60-69 age group.
- Men are almost twice as likely as women to have hearing loss among adults ages 20-69.
- About 5% of adults ages 45-54 have disabling hearing loss. The rate increases to 10% for adults ages 55-64. 22% of those ages 65-74 and 55% of those who are 75 and older have disabling hearing loss.
- Roughly 10% of the U.S. adult population, or about 25 million Americans, has experienced tinnitus lasting at least 5 minutes in the past year.
- About 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from using hearing aids.
- Among adults ages 70 and older with hearing loss who could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than 1 in 3 (30%) has ever used them. Even fewer adults ages 20-69 (approximately 16%) who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them.
Source: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders