Getting our numbers right on hearing loss

Three European hearing organisations havecollaborated to take to a look at the biggerpicture and to make sure we are getting ournumbers right.

A report has been published that isintended to provide a Europe widestrategy to ensure professionals, endusergroups and other interested partieshave numbers that are evidenced andcan be relied upon. The report, titled, ‘Getting our numbers right on Hearing Loss, HearingCare and Hearing Aid Use in Europe’ has been jointlyproduced by three European groups – AEA (EuropeanAssociation of Hearing Aid Professionals), EFHOH(European Federation of Heard of Hearing People andEHIMA (European Hearing Instrument ManufacturersAssociation). The document highlights some of theissues. When discussing the number of people withhearing loss and the impact of professional hearing care,there are a lot of different definitions used, which makescomparisons difficult. Marcel Bobeldijk, EFHOH Presidentsaid, “The report is a very important culmination of ourdiscussions on making sure the language and statisticsare consistent in our work with external stakeholders.”For their research for the report, the groups used theEuroTrak results for seven European countries (UK,France, German, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, and Denmark),information from EFHOH, AEA and EHIMA on hearingaid sales and usage along with the Eurostat data.

Correlation of statistics

The report highlights the very strong correlation betweenthe EuroTrak results on self-reported hearing loss withthe EuroStat data on the 65+ population. The higher thepercentage of the population that are over 65 years thehigher the percentage of the population that experienceshearing difficulties. In Europe 18.5% of the populationis 65 years or older and the average across Europe ofpeople with self-reported hearing loss is 10% – 52 millionpeople (Fig1).

The Germans and Italians are more likely to say theyare not hearing as well as they used to (12.1% and11.7% respectively) and both countries have the highestpercentage of over 65s – 21.4% in Germany and 20.8%of the population in Italy.

From this data, the report authors were able to estimatethe prevalence of self-reported hearing loss across29 European countries. (Table 1) The numbers thatemerge from this are in line with figures that EFHOHhave previously published across countries (France 6million, Germany 9 million). The table has the UK at 7million, a figure that is lower than the number publishedby Action on Hearing Loss of 11 million people withhearing loss in 2015.

Accessing hearing care

Using the data from seven EuroTrak reports that cover9,205 people with self-reported hearing loss, there are interesting points to note. Despite acknowledging theyhave an issue with their hearing, only 73% of people speakto a medical professional about their hearing. Of thosethat do speak to a GP or ENT specialist, only 70% arereferred on. 76% of these purchase hearing aids. (Fig2)

Seven years?

The joint report from AEA, EFHOH and EHIMA questions the frequently published figure about people waitingseven years between noticing they have a hearingproblem and visiting a hearing professional. The reportrefers to a Laureyns et al study from 2015 at the ThomasMore University College in Antwerp that asked hearingaid users in four countries about this topic. 266 users from Belgium, Germany, Italy and Israel revealed at 53%visited a hearing care professional between 0 and 5years after they realised they had a problem. However,some of those questioned waited up to 40 years. Thereport authors state, ‘You will notice that this is not anormal distribution, so therefore we should stop usingthe average of seven years. (Fig 3)

EuroTrak 2015 data also supports this. When peoplewere asked how many years it took for them to acquirehearing aids, the majority said they waited 1 or 2 yearsafter realising they had a hearing problem.

Whilst these numbers paint a more positive picture ofhearing care, the authors counsel caution as this stage isonly the beginning of the process, “Customer satisfaction,active use and impact on overall quality of life are thetrue goals that matter.”

Read the complete article on Audio Infos UK #109, accessible for subscribers at Audiology Worldnews Kiosk. How can I subscribe?