Hearing Loss May Indicate Higher Medical Bills for Some Adults

Hearing loss among late middle-aged adults appears to be associated with higher medical costs. Investigators examined the healthcare use of over 560,000 adults between the ages of 55 and 64 and found that those with hearing loss had 33% higher healthcare costs than those without hearing loss over an 18-month period. Study author Dr. Annie Simpson notes, “This finding indicates that negative health-related effects of hearing loss, a condition that many consider simply an unavoidable result of aging, may manifest earlier than is generally recognized and may affect use of healthcare across the continuum of care.”
JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, April 2016