The use of hearing aids in Europe has increased
The use of hearing aids in Europe among people with a self-reported hearing loss has increased between 2009 and 2015. The adoption rate, the rate of people with hearing loss who use hearing aids, has increased from 33% to 37%, which is the equivalent of a growth of 11.8%. These are the findings in a comparison of the EuroTrak studies made in Germany, France and United Kingdom in 2009, 2012 and 2015 which has been published in an article in the American Journal of Audiology.
Use two hearing aids
The comparison of the EuroTrak data also shows that the percentage of people with hearing loss who use hearing aids on both ears has risen from 55% to 69%, and that the rate at which people replace their hearing aids has declined in both Germany and United Kingdom, but on the other hand is stable in France.
The findings in the EuroTrak studies help to identify factors that could account for the growth in hearing aid sales in Europe over the period.
Prevalence of hearing loss is stable
Over the six-year period, the prevalence of self-reported hearing problems has been stable. In total 10.6% of the respondents stated that they had hearing problems. The prevalence of self-reported hearing loss was 11.5% for men and 9.7% for women. For respondents over 18 years the prevalence of self-reported hearing loss was 12.5%.
The use of hearing aids among people with hearing loss increased with their degree of (self-reported) hearing loss. It went from 14.7% among those with the lowest degree of hearing loss to 73.3% among those with the highest degree of hearing loss.
Other findings
In the article in the American Journal of Audiology some other findings in the EuroTrak surveys were highlighted.
Satisfaction with hearing aid features increased by 7% points and satisfaction with hearing aid performance by 4% points.
Those who use hearing aids on both ears (bilateral users) were more satisfied than people who only used hearing aids on one ear (unilateral users) and they used them more hours a day.
People who use hearing aids are less exhausted in the evenings compared to people with a similar hearing loss who do not use hearing aids. There are also indications of less depression and less forgetfulness among hearing aid uses that non-users.
89% of the employed hearing aid users reported that their hearing aids were of some or significant use at work.
About the studies
The EuroTrak studies are made every 3 years and have until now been conducted in several European countries in 2009, 2012 and 2015. The studies use online surveys from a panel. In each EuroTrak survey approximately 15,000 people are interviewed. In the nine surveys over the six-year period more than 132,000 people have been interviewed.
All the EuroTrak studies can be found at www.ehima.com/documents/
Source: Findings from EuroTrak Surveys From 2009 to 2015: Hearing Loss Prevalence, Hearing Aid Adoption, and Benefits of Hearing Aid Use, American Journal of Audiology, October 2017