Hearing loss increase for ageing population
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07/08/2015. 08:40
KoreaPost
The number of New Zealanders aged 70 years and older suffering from hearing loss is expected to double in the next 50 years. In the first New Zealand study on the occurrence of hearing loss and the implications for the hearing health workforce, (published today in the NZ Medical Journal), researchers found the ageing population trend had a significant impact. "We used recent population projections from Statistics New Zealand and Roy Morgan Survey data to project the implications of hearing loss over the next 50 years," says Dr Daniel Exeter, a senior lecturer in Epidemiology and Statistics at the University of Auckland. "The most dramatic increase is seen among males aged 70 years and over, where the prevalence of hearing loss is expected to double, from two percent in 2011 to 4.6 percent in 2061," he says. "By contrast, the prevalence of hearing loss in those aged 14-49 years is expected to reduce marginally between 2011 and 2061." The study results also suggested that the population of those 65 years and over will increase more in the rural areas, (such as Northland, West Coast, and Tasman), than in more urban areas, (such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin). "Given the projected increase in elderly residents in rural regions, hearing health workforce planners need to consider both the development of additional audiologists and ear nose and throat specialists and their location," says Dr Exeter. "To maintain 2011 hearing health service levels, the hearing health workforce will need another 89 audiologists and 32 more related specialists by 2061," he says. "Along with the increase in population and particularly with the ageing population, we are training more audiology graduates", says University of Auckland audiologist, Dr Grant Searchfield. "Graduates with a science background can do a two year Masters in Audiology and in Auckland and Canterbury we put about 30 graduates a year through this degree." "There is a similar issue in getting doctors into rural communities, in that young graduates often prefer main centres over rural opportunities but remote hearing aid programming technology may address this in the near future," he says. "Although the population increase indicates a need for more audiologists, the developments in technology may result in the same number of clinicians being more effective," says Dr Searchfield. "It may also become easier to fit hearing aids remotely for rural populations, so that also will change the dynamics." "For example developing internet and smart phone capabilities will increase hearing aid efficiencies. Already hearing loss manufacturers are working with Apple to develop better hearing aids," he says. "On the other hand, people are becoming able to purchase hearing aids via the internet and that makes them much more accessible, but it may not be a situation where people are getting the best advice. "New technology is also developing to enable us to better diagnose hearing loss, so solutions may become easier to implement and take less clinician time in the future," says Dr Searchfield. "There may also be medical treatments that can reduce or eliminate hearing loss developed in the next 50 years," he says. "Everybody knows the population is ageing and hearing loss is one of the issues that people need to think about," he says. "It is an issue that is going to grow and there needs to be a university trained hearing health workforce to meet that demand and who are academically trained to adapt to new trends in hearing science; this is something we strive for in the Master of Audiology degree" "There will also be a growing demand for government funding of hearing aids and the government needs to have a dialogue around this, so they can develop a policy and plan for the future," says Dr Searchfield. ENDS |