The World Health Organization (WHO) has inferred that one in four people is likely to suffer from hearing impairment by 2050.
It released its first-ever report on hearing problems observed worldwide and discussed the issues related to the lack of required treatment for people in underdeveloped countries. The report also revealed that 80 percent of people with disabling hearing loss live in low-income and middle-income countries.
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The prevalence of hearing loss reportedly increases with age, and over 25 percent of people above the age of 60 are affected by disabling hearing loss.
The report detailed that over five percent of the world’s population (430 million people) require rehabilitation to remedy their hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children).
It is estimated that one in every ten people, which is equivalent to over 700 million people, will have disabling hearing loss by 2050.
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Regarding finances, the report estimates that “unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual global cost of $980 billion. This includes health sector costs [excluding the cost of hearing devices], costs of educational support, loss of productivity, and societal costs. Fifty-seven percent of these costs are attributed to low- and middle-income countries”.
The financial burden is tremendous, but the organization maintains that “distress caused by the loss of communication, education and social interaction” should be addressed for avoiding hearing impairment issues.
