First published 31 July 2018
9.7 % of the people in the UK say that they have a hearing loss. Among adults aged 18+, 11.6% say they have a hearing loss, according to the survey EuroTrak UK 2018.
The survey EuroTrak UK 2018 on hearing loss and the use of hearing aids in the UK shows that one in ten Britons think they have hearing loss. Among adults Britons one in nine say they have a hearing loss.
The number of people saying they have hearing loss in the UK has been relatively stable since the first EuroTrak UK survey was made in 2009. Surveys have also been made in 2015 and 2012. The number of people saying that they have a hearing loss also corresponds more or less to the results of similar surveys conducted in other European countries and in the United States in later years.
47.6% of those who say that they have a hearing loss use hearing aids. In the 2015 survey, the figure was 42.4%, meaning an increase of hearing aid users of more than 10%. Today, 61% of hearing aid users in the UK use hearing aids in both ears.
Hearing aids improve quality of life
Almost all those in the survey who used hearing aids (94%) said that their hearing aids improve their quality of life in some way. 87% of the hearing aid users in work also stated that their aids are useful in the workplace.
71% of all hearing aid users in the survey said that they should have gotten their hearing aids sooner. The main reason for this was missing out on having a full social life, when not having hearing aids.
Reimbursement
Only 28% of the persons with a hearing loss who do not use hearing aids think that a third party would pay any part of the hearing aids. 44% said they were unsure if anybody else would pay and 28% thought that there was no third-party payment.
In the survey, 75% of the hearing aid users said that they received free-of-charge NHS instruments. 21% got their hearing aids from the private sector. 4% said that they did not know from where they got there hearing aids.
Hearing tests
In the survey, 34% said that they had a hearing test in the last 5 years, but nearly half (48%) had never had a hearing test.
About the survey
EuroTrak UK 2018 was designed and executed by the Swiss analysis firm Anovum on behalf of the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (EHIMA). The survey consisted of nearly 15,000 interviews.
Source: www.ehima.com
