Americans Hear Better Now than 40 Years Ago

Even after 40 years of exposure to thundering rock-and-roll, noisy workplaces and booming TV commercials, today's adult Americans have better hearing than their grandparents, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD).

Based on hearing surveys conducted 40 years apart, researchers from the NIDCD, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, found that both men and women between the ages of 25 and 64 have better hearing than their 40-year-older counterparts.

The research showed the greatest improvement in hearing over the years to be in the upper sound frequencies, the frequencies most important to hearing and understanding speech.

Why Has Our Hearing Improved?

While the researchers concede that the reason for our improved hearing is "not clear" they suspect a variety of health and health care factors typically linked to hearing loss may be major contributors:

• Fewer people smoking
• Better treatment for diabetes and heart diseases
• Better care for childhood ear infections
• Development of advanced vaccines for childhood illnesses

"Things are improving and people are not subject to the same spectrum of illnesses that they would have been. So I do think in general that has a huge effect," said Howard Hoffman, M.A., NIDCD program director for epidemiology and statistics, and first author on the study.

Two additional factors suggested by the researchers are a 50% reduction in manufacturing jobs over the years and improved hearing safety programs in noisy workplaces, thanks to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and its Hearing Conservation Amendment of 1983.

"The bottom line is that the people with really noisy jobs have to be using hearing protection and getting annual hearing tests, so I think there's been a very definite change," said Robert Dobie, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and co-author of the study.

To help improve your home hearing environment, President Obama on December 15, 2010 signed the CALM Act requiring all TV broadcasters to install technology ensuring that commercials air at a volume no louder than the programs in which they appear.

Why is this Research Important?

Since your tax dollars ultimately paid for it, you probably want to know how this research might be useful. The data collected by the researchers will be helpful in improving existing and creating new workplace hearing safety programs. The research will also be helpful to the medical community in identifying health and environmental factors leading hearing loss in both children and adults. In addition, it will be useful to Congress in considering new laws intended to protect the hearing of both the public and specific individuals often exposed to noisy workplaces, such as fire fighters or construction workers.