First published 03 October 2018

More and more of those who have a hearing loss use hearing aids and more are using two hearing aids. At the same time, satisfaction with these hearing aids has risen. This is shown when comparing the EuroTrak studies, which have been carried out in a number of European countries since 2009.

The proportion of Europeans who say they have a hearing loss in the EuroTrak studies has been stable since 2009. In 2009, 13.1% of all adults (18 years and over) said that they had a hearing loss. In the latest study from 2018, 12.7% said they had a hearing loss.

But at the same time, the proportion of Europeans with hearing loss who say they use hearing aids has risen from 33.1% in 2009 to 41.6% in 2018. And the proportion of those who use two hearing aids (binaural fitting) has risen from 55% in 2009 to 67% in 2018.

More and more satisfied users

More and more users are also satisfied with their hearing aids.

The proportion of users who are satisfied with their hearing aids in conversations in large groups has risen from 63% in 2009 to 71% in 2018. For telephone conversations, satisfaction has risen from 61% to 74% and satisfaction when used in larger lecture halls, theatres, concert halls and places of worship has risen from 62% to 72%.

On the whole, satisfaction with hearing aids used in noisy situations has risen from 54% in 2009 to 67% in 2018.

The proportion of users who are satisfied with the product features of their hearing aids has also risen from 70% in 2009 to 80% in 2018.

On the other hand, the proportion of hearing aid users who are embarrassed to wear their hearing aids has fallen significantly from 56% in 2009 to 30% in 2018.

About the EuroTrak surveys

The EuroTrak studies have been carried out in a number of European countries since 2009. The latest study was carried out in 2018. The EuroTrak studies are carried out by the Swiss analysis bureau Anovum for the organisation EHIMA, European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association.

All the studies are available on EHIMA’s survey data page: https://www.ehima.com/surveys/

 

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