Hearing Research – Current Insights

Posted: August 4, 2021

  • NIOSH researchers react to public media coverage of Brood X cicadas as an opportunity to clear up common misunderstandings of noise exposures and risk of noise-induced hearing loss. A must read for all: “Noise Myths Debunked – Fact and Fiction Behind all the Cicada Buzz.” NIOSH Science Blog posted July 20, 2021 by NIOSH Noise and Bio-Acoustics Team.

  • Check out these new estimates of hearing loss prevalence by global region, severity, age and some causes, brought to you by the authors of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study. The GBD Study is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization. Population-representative surveys on hearing loss prevalence from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed, indicating 1 in 5 (over 1.5 billion) people globally have some form of hearing loss.

    GBD 2019 Hearing Loss Collaborators (2021). Hearing loss prevalence and years lived with disability, 1990-2019: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, Lancet 2021, 397: 996-1009. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00516-X
  • Healthy People is a 10-year public health initiative coordinated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Healthy People 2030, the initiative’s fifth release, includes priorities for increasing the use of hearing protection around loud noise and reducing hearing loss in the general population. To view goals and data for communication disorders, click here.