By Steve Huart
This article is a part of the July/August, Volume 35, Number 4, Audiology Today issue.
Healthy hearing contributes to healthy aging, and this article describes how. Audiologists are experts in healthy hearing and are, therefore, in a great position to contribute to healthy aging. The evidence reviewed in this article provides the reader with the confidence to do four things:
- Define healthy aging,
- Define healthy hearing,
- Describe how healthy hearing contributes to healthy aging, and
- Seize every opportunity to educate patients and providers.
It would be hard to dispute that most audiologists see older adults. The definition of “older adult” is a topic of spirited discussion and beyond the scope of this article. Data published by the World Health Organization report the number of people 60 years of age and older now outnumber children younger than 5 years of age. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population older than 60 years of age will nearly double—from 12 percent to 22 percent (World Health Organization, 2022). This translates to one in every five people on the planet. Imagine what this means for audiologists entering the field now who will still be practicing for the next 20–30 years.
At a recent meeting of the Colorado Academy of Audiology, a group of approximately 50 audiologists were asked who worked with children and who worked with older adults. Three individuals raised their hands in response to serving children; the remainder raised their hands indicating they saw older adults. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (2023), 56 percent of veterans are older than 60 years of age, which is the equivalent of more than 10 million people.
The VA is the largest employer of audiologists in the United States, and many readers may feel the impact of this demographic. It is reasonable to draw three conclusions from these data and observations: there are a lot of older adults, the number is growing fast, and unless you are a pediatric specialist, older adults probably make up a large portion of your practice.
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