Sound Check Data Highlights

Overview

Hearing loss is a common and disabling condition. We estimate that in 2019, over 1 in 9 Americans (37.9 million, 95%CI 36.6-39.1 million) had bilateral (in both ears) hearing loss. The prevalence rate of hearing loss increases dramatically with age. Aging is the most important risk factor for hearing loss. However among people of the same age, rates of hearing loss are higher for men than for women, and for non-Hispanic Whites as compared to other race and ethnicity groups. Our study found higher rates of hearing loss in rural areas as compared to urban areas for reasons that are not currently well understood. Degrees of hearing loss are often defined based on hearing loss ranges measured in decibels in hearing level (dB HL). Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we categorized persons as having normal hearing (able to hear at or less than 25 dB), mild hearing loss (able to hear 26 to <=40 dB), or moderate or worse hearing loss (able to hear >40 dB) based on their hearing ability in the better hearing ear, corresponding to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) definitions of normal and slight hearing loss (for normal), mild (for mild), and moderate, moderately severe, severe, and profound (for moderate or worse). The table and chart below show the percent of Americans that have mild and moderate or worse hearing loss, by age groups, race and ethnicity, and gender.

You can download a PDF of this graphic here.

Hearing Loss Prevalence Data Table

	Mild	Moderate or worse	Total
Ages 75 and older	36.8%	35.9%	72.7%
Ages 65-74	24.6%	10.0%	34.6%
Ages 35-64	7.2%	1.7%	8.9%
Ages 18-34	0.6%	0.1%	0.7%
Ages 5-17	0.2%	0.1%	0.3%
Ages 0-4	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%

White, non-Hispanic	9.4%	5.2%	14.6%
Black, non-Hispanic	4.4%	1.8%	6.2%
Other	5.7%	2.7%	8.4%
Hispanic, any race	4.8%	2.1%	7.0%

Male	8.5%	4.6%	13.1%
Female	6.8%	3.3%	10.1%

All persons	7.6%	4.0%	11.6%

Dive Into The Data

Overview

The national prevalence estimates are based on audiology examination data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) audiology examination module. To ensure a sufficient sample size, we merged NHANES data from 2001-2012, and 2015-2018 (audiometry data were not collected in 2013/14) and updated the results to the 2019 U.S. population. These results are stratified by age groups, race/ethnicity group, and gender. NHANES data only reports national outcomes, and hearing examination data at the state or local level does not exist. To generate state and county prevalence estimates, we used a statistical modeling approach called small area estimation to predict the variation in prevalence of hearing loss in different geographic areas using state and county level data for different indicators of hearing loss which are available at the state and county level, including self-reported difficulty hearing as reported the American Community Survey and diagnosed hearing loss from Medicare fee-for-Service claims and Medicare Advantage encounters. A summary of the approach is in the table below.

Methodology	Predicted prevalence rates and prevalence counts using a statistical modeling approach.
Data Sources	National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2001-2012, 2015-2018 audiometry examinations American Community Survey (ACS), 2015-2019 100% Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims, 2019 100% Medicare Advantage encounters, 2019 Area Health Resources file, 2019 Social Security Administration, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, 2019 U.S. Census County Business Patterns, Complete County File, 2019 Decennial Census, 2010
Case Definitions	Moderate or worse hearing loss: inability to hear sounds less than 40 dB in better-hearing ear Mild hearing loss: inability to hear sounds less than 25 dB in the better-hearing ear Normal hearing: able to hear sounds at 25 dB in worse hearing ear
Year	Released 2023, estimates based on 2019 population estimates.
Publication	https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(23)00244-2/fulltext

Key National Results

Prevalence (number of people) with bilateral hearing loss in the United States:

Any bilateral hearing loss: 37.9 million (95% Uncertainty Interval [U.I.] 36.6-39.1)
Mild: 24.9 million (95% U.I. 23.6-26.0)
Moderate or worse: 13.0 million (95% U.I. 12.1-13.9)

Prevalence Rate (percentage of people) with bilateral hearing loss in the United States:

Any bilateral hearing loss: 11.6% (95% U.I, 11.2%-12.0%)
Mild: 7.6% (95% U.I, 7.2%-7.9%)
Moderate or worse: 4.0% (95% U.I, 3.7%-4.2%)

ﾠDisparities in hearing loss

Higher prevalence rates of hearing loss are associated with:
- Increased age
- Male gender
- Non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity
- Living in a rural county

Detailed National Results for Any Hearing Loss

	Prevalence Count	2.5th precentile	97.5th percentile	Prevalence Rate	2.5th percentile	97.5th percentile
Total	37,900,836	36,613,204	39,180,270	11.56%	11.17%	11.95%
Female	16,774,227	15,898,329	17,639,868	10.08%	9.55%	10.60%
Male	21,126,611	20,191,067	22,133,594	13.09%	12.51%	13.71%
0 to 4	22,698	8,512	50,484	0.11%	0.04%	0.25%
5 to 17	144,824	89,167	221,814	0.27%	0.16%	0.41%
18 to 34	545,957	390,091	721,817	0.71%	0.51%	0.94%
35 to 64	11,204,621	10,258,244	12,160,961	8.89%	8.14%	9.65%
65 to 75	10,339,934	9,613,337	11,028,771	34.60%	32.17%	36.91%
75+	15,642,790	15,167,163	16,150,353	72.71%	70.49%	75.06%
non-Hispanic Black	2,469,030	2,260,799	2,731,955	6.18%	5.66%	6.84%
Hispanic	4,289,275	3,939,998	4,623,767	6.95%	6.38%	7.49%
non-Hispanic Other	2,445,071	2,206,101	2,709,664	8.40%	7.58%	9.31%
non-Hispanic White	28,697,468	27,485,055	29,927,508	14.56%	13.94%	15.18%

Detailed National Results for Mild Hearing Loss

	Prevalence Count	2.5th precentile	97.5th percentile	Prevalence Rate	2.5th percentile	97.5th percentile
Total	24,894,276	23,624,225	26,019,499	7.59%	7.20%	7.94%
Female	11,260,337	10,458,329	12,043,736	6.76%	6.28%	7.23%
Male	13,633,940	12,732,822	14,534,255	8.45%	7.89%	9.00%
0 to 4	18,353	7,622	35,846	0.09%	0.04%	0.18%
5 to 17	102,485	58,346	160,800	0.19%	0.11%	0.30%
18 to 34	467,652	330,941	615,442	0.61%	0.43%	0.81%
35 to 64	9,045,363	8,164,261	9,922,030	7.18%	6.48%	7.87%
65 to 75	7,341,236	6,676,021	7,957,312	24.57%	22.34%	26.63%
75+	7,919,177	7,420,148	8,454,503	36.81%	34.49%	39.30%
non-Hispanic Black	1,745,705	1,556,345	1,964,979	4.37%	3.90%	4.92%
Hispanic	2,972,611	2,656,633	3,301,814	4.82%	4.30%	5.35%
non-Hispanic Other	1,658,358	1,432,497	1,898,352	5.70%	4.92%	6.52%
non-Hispanic White	18,517,606	17,408,145	19,581,264	9.39%	8.83%	9.93%

Detailed National Results for Moderate or Worse Hearing Loss

	Prevalence Count	2.5th precentile	97.5th percentile	Prevalence Rate	2.5th percentile	97.5th percentile
Total	13,006,560	12,187,678	13,870,352	3.97%	3.72%	4.23%
Female	5,513,890	4,947,514	6,103,386	3.31%	2.97%	3.67%
Male	7,492,670	6,863,602	8,137,918	4.64%	4.25%	5.04%
0 to 4	4,345	447	16,868	0.02%	0.00%	0.08%
5 to 17	42,339	18,975	76,116	0.08%	0.04%	0.14%
18 to 34	78,305	34,420	146,556	0.10%	0.05%	0.19%
35 to 64	2,159,259	1,722,767	2,629,672	1.71%	1.37%	2.09%
65 to 75	2,998,698	2,577,583	3,472,618	10.03%	8.63%	11.62%
75+	7,723,613	7,228,648	8,241,711	35.90%	33.60%	38.31%
non-Hispanic Black	723,325	585,385	864,432	1.81%	1.47%	2.16%
Hispanic	1,316,664	1,126,662	1,529,346	2.13%	1.83%	2.48%
non-Hispanic Other	786,713	616,087	960,841	2.70%	2.12%	3.30%
non-Hispanic White	10,179,862	9,410,484	11,000,457	5.16%	4.77%	5.58%

State and City Results for Mild, Moderate or Worse, and Any Hearing Loss

State	Mild	Moderate or worse	Any
AK	8.7%	3.5%	12.3%
AL	8.7%	4.3%	13.0%
AR	9.9%	4.8%	14.8%
AZ	8.5%	4.6%	13..1%
CA	6.3%	3.4%	9.8%
CO	7.4%	3.7%	11.1%
CT	6.9%	3.9%	10.8%
DC	4.2%	2.0%	6.3%
DE	6.9%	3.9%	10.8%
FL	8.3%	4.8%	13.2%
GA	6.5%	3.2%	9.7%
HI	8.0%	4.6%	12.6%
IA	8.1%	4.4%	12.5%
ID	9.3%	4.6%	13.8%
IL	6.6%	3.6%	10.2%
IN	8.3%	4.2%	12.5%
KS	8.7%	4.4%	13.1%
KY	10.0%	4.7%	14.8%
LA	7.9%	3.8%	11.7%
MA	7.1%	4.0%	11.0%
MD	5.9%	3.1%	9.1%
ME	10.6%	5.5%	16.2%
MI	8.2%	4.3%	12.5%
MN	7.7%	4.1%	11.8%
MO	8.9%	4.5%	13.4%
MS	8.1%	3.9%	12.0%
MT	10.3%	5.2%	15.4%
NC	7.8%	3.9%	11.7%
ND	8.3%	4.4%	12.7%
NE	8.3%	4.3%	12.6%
NH	8.7%	4.5%	13.3%
NJ	5.9%	3.4%	9.4%
NM	10.0%	5.0%	15.0%
NV	8.3%	4.1%	12.4%
NY	6.3%	3.5%	9.8%
OH	8.2%	4.3%	12.4%
OK	10.0%	4.8%	14.8%
OR	9.7%	4.8%	14.5%
PA	8.3%	4.5%	12.8%
RI	7.8%	4.2%	12.1%
SC	7.9%	4.0%	11.9%
SD	8.9%	4.6%	13.5%
TN	8.9%	4.4%	13.3%
TX	6.9%	3.3%	10.3%
UT	6.1%	3.0%	9.1%
VT	10.0%	5.1%	15.1%
VA	6.9%	3.6%	10.5%
WA	8.3%	4.1%	12.4%
WI	7.9%	4.2%	12.1%
WV	12.3%	6.0%	18.2%
WY	10.4%	4.9%	15.3%

Download State Prevalence Rates

Download City Prevalence Rates

Detailed State and County Level Results

The Sound Check map can display more detailed state and county-level results. The table below summarizes the information available at the state and county levels. To view detailed state and county-level results, click on a state or county and then click on “VIEW DETAILS”

Available Stratifications
Stage	Any hearing loss Mild hearing loss Moderate or worse hearing loss
Age Group	All ages Age groups (0-4, 5-17, 18-34, 35-64, 65-74, 75+ years)
Sex	All Male Female
Race/Ethnicity	All racial and ethnic groups Black (non-Hispanic) Hispanic White (non-Hispanic) Other racial and ethnic groups

SoundCheck Map Features

Characteristic Overlays at the State and County Levels

The SoundCheck map allows users to select an overlay which displays as a purple dot over each geographic area (state or county). The size of the dot corresponds to the relative value of the overlay indicator. That is, the bigger the dot, the higher that characteristic at that geographic level. Overlay indicators are characteristics of the overall population of the state or county including those with and without hearing loss. For example, selecting the ‘Completed College’ overlay under ‘Educational Attainment’ produces purple dots over each state or county, with the size of each dot corresponding to the relative percent of people within that state or county who reported completing college.

To view definitions of each characteristic, please click on the "Data Sources" tab at the top of the Map Page (2nd from the right).

Available Map Overlays
Audiologists	Audiologists per Capita
Self-Reported Disability	Vision Difficulty Cognitive Difficulty Ambulatory Difficulty Self-Care Difficulty Independent Living Difficulty Disability Status
High-Risk Occupation Rate	High-Risk Occupations
Socio-Demographic	Age Race/Ethnicity Educational Attainment Urbanicity
Economic	Poverty Rate Median Household Income Unemployment Rate Deep Poverty