Hearing Loss: 1 in 5 teenagers; Numbers continue to rise

August 18th 2010

A brand new overview of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that an increasing number of teenagers have minor hearing problems.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday, revealed that 20 percent of adolescents ages 12-19 possess evidence of at least some type of hearing loss, according to study co-author Dr. Josef Shargorodsky.

The research was conducted jointly by researchers at Mass Eye And Ear Infirmary and Brigham and Womens Hospital. They reviewed CDC data from a national health survey completed in 2005-2006.

Comparable data gathered between 1988-1994 showed that fifteen percent of teens showed hearing loss at that time. The new data represents a nearly 25 percent increase in two decades.