First published 17 July 2019

10.9% of the adults in Norway say that they have a hearing loss. Nearly half of them use hearing aids, according to the survey EuroTrak Norway 2019.

The EuroTrak Norway 2019 survey on hearing loss and the use of hearing aids in Norway shows that 10.9% of Norwegians think they have hearing loss. Among all Norwegians, including those under 18 years of age, 9.3% say that they have a hearing loss.

A similar survey was carried out in Norway in 2012. At that time, 10.8% of adults said they had a hearing loss, so the proportion of people who think they have a hearing loss is stable in Norway. The number of people who think they have a hearing loss is also about the same as in surveys carried out in other European countries.

Use of hearing aids

In the survey, 49.1% of those who say they have a hearing loss said that they used hearing aids. This is 5.8 percentage points higher than in 2012, where 43.3% said that they used hearing aids. It corresponds to an increase of 15% of hearing aid users among those with hearing loss in the seven years since 2012.

79% of all hearing aid users in Norway use two hearing aids. In 2012, 74% used two hearing aids.

93% of the hearing aid owners in the survey declared that their hearing aids improved their quality of life all of the time or some of the time. The hearing aids also lowered the risk of depression and improved sleep and were believed to have a positive impact on the wearer’s working life.

Hearing tests

37% of the participants in the survey said that they had had a hearing test within the last five years. In 2012, this figure was 42%. Most hearing tests were carried by an ENT.

Reimbursement

94% of those with hearing aids in Norway had asked for some kind of 3rd party reimbursement. But only 34% of those who say that they have a hearing loss and who live without hearing aids think that a third party would pay for any part of the hearing aids.

About the survey

EuroTrak Norway 2019 was designed and carried out by the Swiss analysis firm Anovum on behalf of the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (EHIMA). The survey consisted of around 12,200 interviews.

Source: www.ehima.com