Hearing accessibility spans hearing loss, rehabilitation, devices, communication services and accessible media. The statistics below distinguish estimates from forecasts, self-reported difficulty from audiometric measures, and provider availability from actual content coverage.
Key Hearing Accessibility Statistics
The most broadly useful figures include:
- In the current estimate reported in 2026, about 1.5 billion people worldwide live with some degree of hearing loss.
- In the current estimate reported in 2026, about 430 million people worldwide require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss, including more than 34 million children.
- By 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide are projected to have some degree of hearing loss.
- In 2024, only 17% of people worldwide who could benefit from hearing aids used them.
- In 2024, more than 400 million people worldwide could benefit from hearing-aid use alone.
- In the 2024 global estimate, unaddressed hearing loss carried an annual cost of 980 billion international dollars.
- In 2024, 15.7% of U.S. adults aged 18 or older reported any difficulty hearing.
- In 2021, 9.2% of U.S. men and 5.5% of U.S. women aged 45 or older used a hearing aid.
- In 2022, more than 98% of U.S. newborns were screened for hearing loss.
- In 2022, more than 6,000 U.S. infants were identified with permanent hearing loss.
- In 2022, the prevalence of permanent hearing loss was 1.7 per 1,000 U.S. babies screened.
- In a CDC follow-up study, about 71% of U.S. young adults aged 21–25 with childhood-identified hearing loss and no other related condition were employed.
- In 2024, 95.5% of responding UK on-demand providers offered subtitles, up from 89.1% in 2023.
- In 2024, subtitles covered 68.7% of programme hours among UK on-demand services that offered them.
- In 2024, 22.7% of responding UK on-demand providers offered signing.
- A 2019 publication model estimated that universal hearing-aid use would reduce disease burden by 59% among people in need.
Contents
- Global hearing accessibility statistics: prevalence, severity and future need
- Hearing-aid access statistics and the worldwide unmet need
- U.S. hearing accessibility data: prevalence, age and sex differences
- Children’s hearing accessibility statistics: screening, intervention and participation
- Television and streaming accessibility statistics: subtitles, signing and audio description
- Costs and measured outcomes of improving hearing accessibility
Global Hearing Accessibility Statistics: Prevalence, Severity and Future Need
The World Health Organization’s current estimate reported in 2026 puts the worldwide scale of hearing loss at about 1.5 billion people with some degree of loss. That broad category is not the same as disabling hearing loss or a need for a hearing aid.
- WHO estimates that about 430 million people worldwide require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss, including more than 34 million children; this rehabilitation estimate is not identical to hearing-aid need. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
- More than 5% of the world’s population, or about 430 million people, require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss in the current estimate reported in 2026. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
- More than 1 billion young adults are estimated to be at risk of permanent avoidable hearing loss from unsafe listening practices; this is a risk estimate, not diagnosed loss or unmet service need. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
WHO projects that nearly 2.5 billion people will have some degree of hearing loss by 2050, while more than 700 million are projected to require hearing rehabilitation. Both figures depend on demographic and epidemiological assumptions. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
WHO also estimates that scaling global ear and hearing care services would require less than US$1.40 per person annually. Over 10 years, the modeled return is nearly US$16 for every US$1 invested; this is an economic forecast, not an observed spending average. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
| Global measure | Figure | Period and scope |
|---|---|---|
| Some degree of hearing loss | 1.5 billion people | Current estimate reported 2026, worldwide |
| Rehabilitation for disabling loss | 430 million people | Current estimate reported 2026, worldwide |
| Some degree of hearing loss | Nearly 2.5 billion people | 2050 forecast, worldwide |
| Rehabilitation need | More than 700 million people | 2050 forecast, worldwide |
Hearing-Aid Access Statistics and the Worldwide Unmet Need
The WHO estimates that more than 400 million people worldwide could benefit from hearing-aid use alone, but only 17% of those who could benefit use hearing aids. The resulting 83% gap is a rounded complement of that estimate, and access and use definitions can vary by setting. (WHO, “Hearing aid service delivery approaches for low- and middle-income settings”)
A 2019 publication estimate found a similar scale of unmet need under a defined threshold: 401.4 million people globally were in need of hearing aids, and 83% did not use them. The estimate reached 90% not using hearing aids in the WHO African region, but that regional model should not be generalized to every country. (“Global and regional needs, unmet needs and access to hearing aids,” PubMed)
- A systematic review found hearing-aid use among people with hearing difficulty ranging from 4.5% to 47.5% across included studies. Definitions and populations varied substantially. (BMJ Global Health, “Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products”)
- In 16 of 18 settings in that review, more than 60% of people assessed as needing a hearing aid had unmet need. Most studies equated hearing difficulty with hearing-aid need, so the result is heterogeneous. (BMJ Global Health, “Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products”)
- The review included 25 studies reporting 62 hearing-aid access indicators, and 72% of hearing-aid studies used multiple assessment approaches. These describe the evidence base rather than population prevalence. (BMJ Global Health, “Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products”)
| Access measure | Result | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| People who could benefit from hearing aids | More than 400 million | 2024 estimate, worldwide |
| People who could benefit who use them | 17% | 2024 estimate, worldwide |
| People in need not using aids | 83% | 2019 publication estimate, worldwide |
| People in need not using aids | 90% | 2019 publication estimate, WHO African region |
U.S. Hearing Accessibility Data: Prevalence, Age and Sex Differences
U.S. measures show why definitions matter. In 2024, 15.7% of adults aged 18 or older reported any difficulty hearing, while an NIDCD summary rounds the figure to about 15%, or 37.5 million people; neither self-report measure is equivalent to audiometric loss. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
NHANES examination estimates for adults aged 20–69 were 16% in 1999–2004 and 14% in 2011–2012. The periods differ, and these are audiometric estimates rather than the current self-reported NHIS measure. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
- About 13% of U.S. people aged 12 or older, or 30 million people, have hearing loss in both ears on standard hearing examinations. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
- NIDCD estimates disabling hearing loss for about 5% of adults aged 45–54, 10% of those aged 55–64, 22% of those aged 65–74 and 55% of those aged 75 or older. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
| U.S. population | Hearing measure | Figure and period |
|---|---|---|
| Adults 18+ | Any self-reported difficulty | 15.7%, 2024 |
| Adults 20–69 | Audiometric hearing loss | 14%, 2011–2012 |
| People 12+ | Bilateral audiometric loss | About 13%, current NIDCD summary |
| Adults 75+ | Disabling hearing loss | About 55%, current NIDCD summary |
The CDC’s 2021 NHIS shows lower reported hearing-aid use among women than men among adults aged 45 or older: 9.2% of men versus 5.5% of women. By age, the male-versus-female figures were 3.0% versus 1.4% at ages 45–64, 12.3% versus 5.7% at 65–74, 26.7% versus 13.7% at 75–84, and 39.5% versus 31.5% at 85 or older. (CDC MMWR, “QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged ≥45 Years Who Use a Hearing Aid”)
The NIDCD notes that hearing-loss denominators use NHANES examination estimates while hearing-aid-use numerators come from NHIS, so these measures should not be treated as one survey series. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
Children’s Hearing Accessibility Statistics: Screening, Intervention and Participation
U.S. newborn screening reached more than 98% in 2022, according to CDC state and territorial Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program data. More than 6,000 infants born that year were identified with permanent hearing loss, equal to 1.7 per 1,000 babies screened; the denominator is screened babies, not all births. (CDC, “Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children”)
NIDCD’s current summary estimates that 2 to 3 of every 1,000 U.S. children are born with detectable hearing loss in one or both ears. It also reports that more than 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, a research estimate whose population and definition should be retained. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
- About 40% of U.S. young adults aged 21–25 with hearing loss identified during childhood reported at least one limitation in daily functioning in a CDC follow-up study. (CDC, “Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children”)
- About 71% of U.S. young adults aged 21–25 with childhood-identified hearing loss and no other related condition were employed; this is not a causal employment estimate. (CDC, “Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children”)
Historical U.S. education costs provide additional context. Special-education spending for deaf or hard-of-hearing children was $652 million, or $11,006 per child, in the 1999–2000 school year; the CDC summary does not inflation-adjust these figures. (CDC, “Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children”)
A 2007-dollar estimate put lifetime educational cost at $115,600 per child for hearing loss over 40 dB without other disabilities. This applies to a defined threshold and excludes other disabilities. (CDC, “Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children”)
Television and Streaming Accessibility Statistics: Subtitles, Signing and Audio Description
Ofcom’s 2024 UK report measures responding on-demand providers and, separately, programme hours among services that offered a feature. Those are availability measures, not the share of every programme accessible to every viewer.
| UK on-demand access feature | Providers offering it | Change from 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Subtitles | 95.5% in 2024 | 89.1% in 2023 |
| Audio description | 38.6% in 2024 | 32.1% in 2023 |
| Signing | 22.7% in 2024 | 22.6% in 2023 |
Among services that offered them, subtitles covered 68.7% of programme hours in 2024 and audio description covered 11.4%. Excluding Hotstar, Ofcom’s sensitivity figures were 85.9% for subtitles and 20.7% for audio description, so catalogue composition materially affects the aggregate. (Ofcom, “Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report – January to December 2024”)
Platform availability also varied in 2024: responding providers carrying subtitles ranged from 88.9% on game consoles to 93.1% on connected TVs and 96.3% on mobile apps. These percentages describe provider availability by platform, not programme-level coverage. (Ofcom, “Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report – January to December 2024”)
An earlier UK government accessibility briefing reported that 1 million people rely on television subtitles and a further 4 million use them regularly. The cited estimate is historical, and regular subtitle users are not all people with hearing loss. (Ofcom, “Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report – January to December 2024”)
The UK government has cited around 151,000 British Sign Language users, including about 87,000 Deaf users, in a 2022 report. BSL users are not equivalent to all people with hearing loss or all caption users. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
Hearing Accessibility Costs and Measured Outcomes
The WHO estimated in its 2021 global report that unaddressed hearing loss costs the world more than US$980 billion annually in international dollars. This broad modeled figure includes health, education, productivity and societal costs; it is not a cash market size. (WHO, “Deafness and hearing loss”)
The global burden-of-disease analysis estimated 25 million years lived with disability from untreated hearing-aid-eligible hearing loss before current coverage. Existing hearing-aid coverage was modeled to avert 3.7 million YLDs, leaving 21.3 million. (“Global and regional needs, unmet needs and access to hearing aids,” PubMed)
- Universal hearing-aid use was modeled to avert 14.7 million additional YLDs beyond the untreated baseline, leaving 10.3 million YLDs. (“Global and regional needs, unmet needs and access to hearing aids,” PubMed)
- The universal-coverage scenario was expressed as a 59% reduction in disease burden among people in need; it is a counterfactual model, not an observed population-wide intervention result. (“Global and regional needs, unmet needs and access to hearing aids,” PubMed)
Regional coverage estimates also vary by severity. In high-income regions, adult hearing-aid coverage was estimated at 6% for mild impairment and 89% for profound impairment. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)
A multi-country analysis estimated that 40 million adults in high-income regions used a hearing aid, including 26 million with hearing impairment of at least 35 dBHL. The same analysis estimated that 43% of adults with impairment of at least 35 dBHL used a hearing aid; the studies had varying dates and methods. (NIDCD, “Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness”)