Researchers find Baby Boomer hearing loss less than their parents at the same age
In an earlier blog I stated that there is no hearing loss epidemic in America. If you have been following the media over the last five years you have heard dire predictions about listening to loud music and the dangers of iPods. Well the 20 year longitudinal study at Beaver Dam WI indicates that members of the rock 'n' roll generation are aging with much better hearing than their parents had at the same age.
In the first large-scale study of the hearing of 5,275 adults born between 1902 and 1962, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health showed that baby boomers are holding on to good hearing longer than their parents did.
The study showed hearing impairment rates (not defined but I bet it includes mild hearing loss) were 31 percent lower in baby boomers across all age groups. For example, in the group of men now in their early 60s (those born between 1944 and 1949), 36.4 percent had a hearing impairment; among men born between 1930 and 1935, 58.1 percent had a hearing impairment at the same age.
The primary researcher Dr. Wen Chen of the NIA Division of Neuroscience research stated "These two long-term population studies provide important evidence that age-related hearing loss is not inevitable."
The researchers projected if baby boomers lost their hearing at the same rate as their parents did, about 65.5 million Americans would be hearing-impaired by 2030; this new study suggests the number is likely to be closer to 50.9 million. In comparison our MarkeTrak research indicates that 34.25 million Americans are aware of their hearing loss; in a previous study by 2030 we have estimated that the hearing loss population (or at least those aware of their hearing loss) will be 44 million. I am not sure how one can project hearing loss to the U.S. population from the Beaver Dam area of Wisconsin. However, the research does confirm our own research which shows that the growth in the hearing loss population is primarily among people who are the parents of today's Boomers.
Dr. Cruickshanks, author of the Beaver Dam study concluded that the reasons for the drop in hearing loss among boomers compared to their parents:
- That hearing loss from one-time exposures such as music at a loud concert tends to be temporary. Short-term exposure leads to temporary hearing loss but it's the day-to-day exposure that leads to more permanent hearing loss.
- Stricter rules about workplace noise exposure, and fewer members of the younger generation working in noisy workplaces such as mining and manufacturing.
- Reduced smoking rates in younger generations should result in less chronic cardiovascular disease, which can cause hearing loss.
- Because infection and inflammation are also associated with hearing loss, better health care and the widespread use of antibiotics may also be part of the explanation.
I would add that their fathers in greater numbers were also subjected to massive exposure to noise during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. In addition, the effects of noise induced hearing loss and younger people are more educated in this area. In fact our hearing loss prevention noise thermometer is the second most viewed page on the BHI website.
The study is being published in the Jan. 15 edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Jan 20, 2010 at 12:08 PM This has good implications for protecting your hearing from youth on. We have a bowl of EAR plugs in the front office that we refill weekly. We tell our patients to take a pair or two to prevent damage in the future. Prevention works!
Jan 20, 2010 at 3:56 PM It is good news, but a careful read of the paper is needed to fully grasp it. For example, the definition of hearing loss was an average of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. The effect described in the paper might be attributable the advent of effective treatment of middle ear disorders via antibiotics. These effects would be most prominent in the low and mid frequencies, and would therefore dominate the average used to identify cases of hearing loss in this study.
Jan 21, 2010 at 7:38 AM Greg I did not see the original paper. What was their definition of hearing loss?
Jan 21, 2010 at 8:04 AM OSHA came on the scene in the early 70s, bringing safer work conditions. That is something the parents of the baby boomers did not have. Although there are probably many different factors that we could attribute this shift to.
Feb 28, 2010 at 10:33 PM I'm putting you on google reader so I can keep up with you :)
Nice article. I totally relate.
Apr 12, 2010 at 10:23 PM The new age people are facing the hearing impairments a lot. The basic reason for this is the pollution and the over usage of cell phones, ipods and heavy beat songs.
People don't realize it at earlier stage but later they face a lot of hearing problems.
May 21, 2010 at 8:31 AM It is a nice news! I though it the situation will be different. I've recently seen a video http://www.videorolls.com/watch/Deafening-Sound-Noise-in-the-City . I was very surprised.
May 21, 2010 at 8:33 AM It is a nice news! I though it the situation will be different. I've recently seen a video <a href=http://www.videorolls.com/watch/Deafening-Sound-Noise-in-the-City > http://www.videorolls.com/watch/Deafening-Sound-Noise-in-the-City </a> I was very surprised.
Jan 4, 2011 at 6:15 PM I really don't have any idea that this is true. If it is true I think I need to be very careful and try to tell everyone about this stuff. Thank you for sharing this very important message.
Jan 7, 2011 at 12:32 AM I'm not sure I understand the connection between baby boomers and their parents. Is the study saying that our ears can take more abuse than the last generation? If that's the case, I think we're doing a really great job of testing the theory. Volume dials stuck on 11.
Dr. Cruickshanks bullet points need a humble reality check too, at least from where I'm standing.
* Hearing loss from a one-time exposure such as at a concert doesn't necessarily go away. You can even bring about a temporary or permanent case of tinnitus. Is it not the temporary loss over time that adds up to the large chunks of damage 10 or 15 years down the road?
* I'm typing this as my ears ring out, loss of hearing and all . . . thinking about how it's incredibly difficult nowadays to go anywhere (a bar, restaurant or movie) without having to should at the person next to me. Younger generations are exposed to ungodly levels on a constant basis. Not only do you have the rock 'n' roll generation; but the iPod generation, the cell phone generation and the iPod competitor generation all rolled into one mess. It's absurd really.
* Smoking - I see it happening less now, but loads still smoke & they probably always will.
* The last point makes the most sense (and strengthened by Greg Flamme above), but as I sit here with ringing ears & hearing loss, they obviously didnt stop any damage for me.
Interested to dig up the paper now, appreciate the article & your blog.
Feb 21, 2011 at 10:37 AM I feel that Dr. Cruickshanks brings up some interesting facts as to the reasoning behind baby-boomers rates of hearing loss verses their parents, the first being that short-term exposure leads to temporary hearing loss, but it's the day-to-day exposure that leads to more permanent hearing loss . Though I dont necessarily agree with the entirety of this statement, I do agree that you are much more likely to experience hearing loss first hand if you are exposed to it day in and day. However permanent hearing loss is certainly possible from just a onetime exposure to a loud level of noise. The second thing I found interesting was when he pointed out that today there are Stricter rules about workplace noise exposure, and fewer members of the younger generation working in noisy workplaces such as mining and manufacturing . What Dr. Cruickshanks neglects to point out as well is the advancements in hearing protection devices for todays workers, which has safeguarded many from the hearing damage suffered by their parents. - David Cannington http://www.sensear.com/