One out of ten
One out of ten of your patients hear so poorly that they will benefit from using hearing aids.
The total number of hearing-impaired people in the world will be more than 560 million people in 2005. In Europe, there will be more than 80 million hearing-impaired people in 2005. The number of hearing-impaired people in USA and Canada will be more than 30 million.
Facts about hearing impairment
Hearing impairment is one of the world’s most common impairments. Approximately 500 million people worldwide are suffering from hearing loss.

The two main causes of hearing loss are ageing and excessive noise, but many diseases may also result in hearing loss. Hearing loss cannot normally be cured, nor will hearing aids restore your patient’s hearing. But hearing aids do help - and can help most of your patients to hear almost normally.

On these pages you can read about the different types of hearing loss and find information about tinnitus, which has become a very common hearing impairment.

You can also find information about hearing aids and other technical aids for hearing-impaired people including information about the problems a person will experience as a consequence of suffering from hearing impairment.

Finally, you can read about the technicalities of sound and how the ear actually works.

Good advice for family doctors
In this section of the website you can find good advice on how to counsel your patients in relation to hearing impairment.

You can find information about communication guidelines, signs to look for, and devices that can help communicating with a hearing-impaired patient.

You can also find information about counselling hard of hearing patients and advice for patients who are hard of hearing.

Finally, you can

[Email: info@medical.hear-it.org]