Americans Do Not Understand the Importance of Hearing Health

A new report finds that most Americans are not aware of the impact hearing health can have on their overall health. 

Listen To This is a global alliance comprised of industry leaders, academic institutions, and other non-governmental organizations. In late 2025, this group conducted quantitative interviews with more than 1,000 US adults aged 25+ years.

Overall, the results suggested that long-term health was very important to Americans, with a focus on regular exercise (88 percent) and diet/sleep (82 percent). However, hearing health was not part of the health routines reported. In fact, only 1 percent ranked monitoring their hearing among their top five longevity priorities.

Hearing health continues to be neglected as a part of an overall healthy lifestyle and goals for longevity. This is concerning given the existing research that shows unaddressed hearing loss is one of the biggest modifiable risk factors for reducing the risk of dementia (The Lancet, 2024).

After interviews, participants were informed about the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline. When hearing health was presented as brain health, over 35 percent of participants who had never had a hearing evaluation indicated they would be seeking one.

One thing is clear, although the data is available, Americans have not received the message. Listen To This intends to improve this.

References

Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Liu, K. Y., Ames, D., Ballard, … Mukadam, N. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet Standing Commission. The Lancet.

Staff. (2026, May 21). Americans fail to understand overall impact of hearing health, report finds. Vision Monday.