![]() ![]() Tye-Murray (2009) discussed how individuals with hearing loss are usually underserved or unserved due to a scarcity of available AR services, the attitudes of service delivery personnel, a lack of reimbursement for these services, and communication or environmental factors. Unfortunately, barriers exist to the delivery of effective AR services. Furthermore, the researchers support continued study of the role that aural rehabilitation (AR) has in mitigating these effects. More importantly, the prevalence of hearing loss is expected to rise because of the aging of the population, and research is needed to understand the impact of hearing loss on cognition, communication, and other functional domains (Lin, Niparko, & Ferrucci, 2011). Lin, Thorpe, Gordon-Salant, and Ferrucci (2011) discuss the impact of hearing loss on older populations and how hearing loss is associated with various conditions or situations, such as incident dementia (e.g., driving or walking difficulty), social isolation, cognitive and functional decline, and falls. The effects of hearing loss on the individual can be dynamic and significant, especially in older adults. By 2050, individuals in the United States with hearing loss will exceed 40 million (Kochkin, 2005) with about 80% experiencing irreversible hearing loss (Tye-Murray, 2009). ![]() ![]() Furthermore, the study demonstrated that, for individuals 12 years and older in the United States, nearly 1 in 8 has bilateral hearing loss, and nearly 1 in 5 has a unilateral or bilateral hearing loss. Lin and colleagues also found that hearing loss increases with every age decade (i.e., as people age into their 40s, 50s, 60s, etc.). In fact, from 2001 to 2008, there were an estimated 30 million Americans (or 12.7% of the population) ages 12 years or older who had bilateral hearing loss, and this estimate increased to 48.1 million (or 20.3% of the population) when individuals with unilateral hearing loss were included (Lin, Niparko, & Ferrucci, 2011). Hearing loss continues to be a defining health condition for many individuals as they age. ![]()
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