Millions would benefit from hearing aids.

One in six Europeans would benefit from using hearing aids. In the US, more than 31 million people are hearing impaired.  

Sixteen percent of adult Europeans suffer from hearing loss great enough to adversely affect their daily life. This is significantly higher than the previously generally assumed prevalence of 10 percent.

In Europe, about 71 million adults aged between 18 and 80 years have a hearing loss greater than 25 dB, the definition of hearing impairment recognised by the World Health Organisation, WHO. The data was reported in “Evaluation of the Social and Economic Costs of Hearing Impairment”, based on a survey carried out by scientists at.

Sergei Kochkin, an American hearing expert, has carried out various studies, the MarkeTrak Surveys, of hearing impaired Americans and their use of hearing aids.

In his 2005 survey, MarkeTrak VII, he found that: 

More than 31 million Americans, 10.5 percent of the population, were hearing impaired. 

More than 24 million of them did not have a hearing aid. 

Only about 23.5 percent of hearing impaired Americans actually use hearing aids. 

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People, RNID, in the UK, has found that there are 8.7 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. Just one in four hearing impaired Britons owns a hearing aid.