Hearing loss in North America
In America, 35 million suffer from hearing loss, but more than 25 million of them do not have a hearing aid. Hearing loss affects 3 million Canadians, but only one in six of the hearing impaired wear hearing aids.
In the USA, hearing-impaired people typically pay for their hearing aids themselves, as the United States has a very limited public hearing health care system. The conditions in Canada vary from province to province.
The WHO estimates in its 2021 World Report on Hearing that in the WHO region of The Americas (North and South America) 217 million people have some degree of hearing loss and that 62.7 million or 6.2% have a moderate or higher grade of hearing loss. By 2050, 332 million people in the Americas will have some degree of hearing loss.
Hearing loss at younger age
People lose their hearing much earlier than in the past. A Canadian study found that 25% of people with hearing loss are younger than 40 years of age, and 70% are younger than 60 years.
According to several studies, hearing loss is also common among adolescents and children in both the US and Canada.
This disconcerting trend is caused by the generally higher noise levels in today's society.
The problem is growing
The American 2005 MarkeTrak VII report projected that the number of Americans with hearing loss will increase to 40 million by 2025 and 53 million by 2050.