Australian Hearing

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Australian Hearing
Hearing Loss Device Usage among Older
AustraliansPresented byEmma Scanlan
Principal Audiologist,
Australian Hearing

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Hearing Loss in Australia

• 3.55 million Australians of all ages have some
  form of hearing loss
• 6 in 10 people over the age of 60 have a loss
• 7 in 10 over the age of 70 have a loss
• Men are at a greater risk than women

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Adult Hearing Loss in Australia

• Many older people wait 6-10 years before taking
  action
• Around 400,000 Australians have a hearing aid
• 1.3 million more could benefit from an aid
• More than 87 of those over 65 who have a hearing
  loss dont wear an aid

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Hearing Loss in Australia

• 37 of the population have hearing loss related
  to excessive noise exposure most common single
  cause of hearing loss
• Direct costs to the health system due to hearing
  loss total 674 million
• Hearing loss ranks with asthma, diabetes and
  musculoskeletal diseases in terms of burden of
  disability
• Most Australians will be touched by hearing loss
  during their lifetime

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Hearing loss is associated with an increased risk
of

• Diabetes
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Heart attack
• Psychiatric disorders

Access Economics
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Hearing loss by severity
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Who Has Hearing Loss?

• Hearing
• loss is more common than you think!

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Veterans

• Hearing is the second most common medical
  condition reported by Australian war veterans
• 55 report hearing loss as a current medical
  condition

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Farmers

• Over half of Australian farmers are likely to
  suffer from hearing loss through noise exposure
  from machinery, tools and pigs in sheds.
• Almost all farmers over 55 years of age who have
  been exposed to loud noise have a hearing loss
• Only 18 of farmers wear hearing protection while
  using heavy machinery

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Indigenous Australians

• Life expectancy in the Indigenous population is
  17 years lower than the total population 59 for
  males and 65 for females
• 70 over 50 years have a hearing loss
• Approximately 50 of Indigenous clients gt50 yrs
  of age who access hearing services go on to
  hearing aid fitting

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Hearing Loss in the Future

• Australians are being urged to work longer,
  issues like hearing loss in the workplace are set
  to become increasingly important
• Hearing loss is costing Australia 12 billion per
  year, about 2/3 is through people not working
  because they cant hear well enough

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Projected Prevalence to 2050Hearing Loss by Age
Access Economics 2005
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Why Dont People Do Something About It?

• My hearing isnt bad enough.
• I know people who wear a hearing aid and dont
  like it.
• A hearing aid is inconvenient to wear.
• A hearing aid may make my hearing worse.
• People will think Im old if I wear a hearing
  aid.
• I wont be able to manage it.

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Hearing Aids

• Big advances in last few years.
• Most people with a hearing loss even a mild
  loss can get some benefit from a well fitted aid
• Success for more severe losses also depends on
  how well the auditory nerves are able to pass the
  message from the ear to the brain.
• Those with a severe to profound loss may find a
  cochlear implant beneficial

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Binaural or Monaural

• 80 of our clients have two aids for good
  reasonthey have two ears.
• Two aids are better than one as they give a more
  natural, balanced sound and help you work out
  where sound comes from.

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Open Fittings
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Hearing Aid Styles

• Smaller, more sophisticated and can easily
  adjusted
• Varying styles
• Behind-the-Ear
• In-the-Ear
• In-the-Canal
• Completely-in-the-canal
• Open Fit

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Hearing Aid Technology
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What devices are being fitted?
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Hearing Aid Technology

• Latest features
• Sound smoothing
• Directional microphones
• Data learning
• Feedback cancellation
• e-2-e technology
• Remote controls
• Digital signal processing
• Background noise suppression

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Directional Microphones

• The most common complaint of hearing impaired
  people is difficulty hearing in background noise.
  
• Directional microphones are currently the most
  effective method for improving speech
  intelligibility in noisy situations such as group
  situations, parties, and general background
  noise.

Omni-directional
Directional
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Data Learning

• Wearer teaches the hearing instrument/s how they
  should be adjusted while the devices are being
  worn in different listening situations.
• This process is carried out after the hearing
  instrument wearer leaves the fitting centre.
• The hearing instrument learns the preferred
  settings of the wearer and applies those settings
  automatically when the instrument is switched on.

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Baby Boomers Drive New Market
Baby boomers are driving new designs in hearing
aids. Technology more important than hiding
device design based.
Bernafon brite
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Personal Communication Assistant not a hearing
aid.
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Hearing Aid Technology

• The Future
• Aids you cant see and that fit and adjust
  themselves
• Aids which are combined with mobile phone, iPod
  etc via Bluetooth are now hitting the market.
• Everyone (even normal hearing) will be able to
  wear devices to remove noise in challenging
  social environments

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References

• Roy Morgan How Are We Ageing, March 2006
• Hearing Impairment in an Australian Population,
  1998
• Hearing Loss the Farming Community, 2002
• Access Economics Listen Hear, May 2006
• Prevalence, Risk Factors and the Impacts of
  Hearing Impairment in an Older Australian
  Community the Blue mountains Hearing Study, 2002
• DVA Survey Your lives, Your needs 2003.
• Harvey Dillon Private Communication 2008
• Libby Harricks Memorial Oration 2006
• ABS Report 4704.0 - The Health and Welfare of
  Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
  Peoples, 2008