A call for greater awareness by Australians to protect their hearing was the focus of HEARing CRC CEO, Prof. Robert Cowan’s keynote speech at the launch of 2011 National Hearing Awareness Week Expo today.

One in six Australians are affected by hearing loss and this number is expected to rise to one in four by 2050 as Australians continue to expose their ears to damaging noise,” Prof. Cowan explained.

To stop this rise, a concerted effort is needed to make Australians more aware of the situations that can damage their ears so they learn how to avoid these exposures.

According to a study by Access Economics, the impact of hearing loss to the Australian economy in 2005 was estimated to be around $11.75 billion.

Besides its huge economic cost to the country, hearing loss impacts on daily activities such as going to work, school and communicating with your family or friends, but most Australians are unaware they have it,Prof. Cowan explained.

Hearing loss, tinnitus and central auditory processing disorders are growing problems for young Australians.

Young people put their ears at risk by going to noisy environments such as nightclubs, sporting events and live music venues along with listening to their MP3 players for long periods of time.

While they may know about risks of hearing loss, many think that hearing loss is temporary, or that only older Australians or those working in noisy environments are at higher risk,” Prof. Cowan said.

Concerns about the forecasted increase in hearing loss by Australians have prompted the HEARing CRC to release a brochure called Hear Today, Hear Tomorrow? to help create a greater awareness of how it happens and the measures that can be taken to prevent it.

“Australia is already an international leader in the development of new technologies such as the hearing protection for call centre operators, improved hearing aid fitting programs and advanced cochlear implants that prevent hearing loss or improved the quality of life of those affected by hearing loss,” Prof. Cowan stated.

The challenge for us here today is to use this knowledge and credibility to make Australians more aware of the real dangers of hearing loss.

Australians should learn to protect their hearing in much the same way they now put on sunscreen to prevent skin cancer and sunburn and monitor the exposure to harmful sounds.

The good news is that the solution is simple - our ears can be easily protected by using hearing protection or changing our daily activities to limit our exposure to potentially damaging sounds.

Copies of the Hear Today, Hear Tomorrow? can be downloaded from the HEARing CRC website.