Approximately 2 percent of adults aged 45 to 54 have disabling hearing loss. That rate increases to 8.5 percent for adults aged 55 to 64, 25 percent for those aged 65 to 74, and 50 percent for those who are 75 and older.
All totaled, some 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from using hearing aids. Ironically, however, only 30 percent of seniors who could benefit from a hearing aid have ever used the technology, and only 16 percent of hearing-impaired adults aged 20 to 69 have ever used one.