More than a quarter of the UK’s population are estimated to have some form of hearing loss, according to research from the universities of Manchester and Nottingham.
The BBC reported that new analysis has found that about 18 million people are affected, six million more than previously thought.
According to Professor Michael Akeroyd, co-author of the report, the study drew on census projections and a broader definition of hearing loss to modernise the UK’s hearing loss statistics.
He said he hoped the results would “encourage more people to realise how common hearing loss is”.
The BBBC reported that academics looked back at the most recent censuses in England, Scotland and Wales and then used population projects to calculate that a further 4.6 million people had hearing loss.
Professor Kevin Munro from the University of Manchester said previous hearing loss data was gathered using a definition from the 1980s with the result that “millions of people’s experiences were effectively dismissed”.
He said it meant they were “effectively left out of the national conversation” because they were not include in the official statistics.
The study said that if milder degrees of hearing loss, including problems in only one ear, were included then the total of those affected exceeded 18 million people.
Victoria Boelman of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People said the new data now reflects “the real-life experience of the 18 million people in the UK”.
The BBC reported that in spite of the new findings and the revised estimates researchers have now called for a further report to look into the impact of other factors including recreational noise exposure and greater population diversity.
