The ChairSpeaker was initially created to help out the inventor's family with their history of hearing loss. About 48 million other people like them suffer from some type of hearing loss, whether it is genetic or because of one's environment or increased age, the odds are in favor that this has affected someone you know.
Here are some interesting facts about hearing loss and how it affects people in various stages in life:
The number of people that suffer from hearing loss is more than the combined amount of people that suffer from Parkinson's, epilepsy, Alzheimers and diabetes combined.
Contrary to popular belief, hearing loss does not occur just in older people. About 50% of the people dealing with hearing loss are 75 or older. Over 7% are between 29-40 years old and about 39% are within the 41-74 year range.
Men are twice as likely to experience hearing loss than women. This may be due to their occupation like construction or manufacturing or due to their hobbies like riding motorcycles or using firearms.
Women, however are twice as likely as men to disclose this information to others and to openly seek help. Women also hear better at higher frequencies over 2000 Hz, like birds chirping or a whistle but have more difficulty than men in hearing lower frequencies, like thunder or a tuba.
Some people with hearing loss choose to use hearing aids or other listening devices. With so many people across so many different age groups, the average age a person first starts wearing an hearing aid is 70. Only 16% of people from age 20-69 have used hearing aids, while only 30% of people over 70 have used them as well.
These basic hearing loss facts are intended to arm you with helpful information and help you feel more comfortable discussing it with others.