As Covid-19 forced people to keep wearing masks and practice social distancing in their daily lives, more people realized that they had a hearing loss, government data showed.
Patients who had not been aware of hearing difficulties in their daily lives are now finding it challenging to listen to others because they cannot read lips or facial expressions due to mask-wearing.
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service’s data showed that the number of patients with hearing loss increased by 30 percent to 418,092 in 2019 from 293,620 in 2015.
Most of the patients are in their 50s. However, with long hours of earphone use in youth, cases of noise-induced hearing loss have increased in the younger generations. Last year, patients with hearing loss in their 30s and younger stood at 82,586, accounting for 19.7 percent of the total hearing loss patients.
In January this year, the number of patients with hearing loss inched up to 50,400, compared to 49,200 in the same period of last year.
However, the number plunged to 37,900 in March due to a rapid fall in hospital visits amid Covid-19. In May, it rebounded to 51,600, a level similar to the number a year earlier.
With the Covid-19 situation still continuing for over 10 months, new patients seek medical help to test if they have a hearing problem after finding it difficult to hear the sound of others with masks on, physicians said.
“Masks make it impossible to read lips, so people who don’t understand others find out that they have hearing difficulties, and they visit medical institutions because it’s uncomfortable,” said Byun Jae-yong, a professor at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Gangdong Kyunghee University Hospital.
Professor Moon Il-joon at the Otorhinolaryngology Department of Samsung Medical Center also said he saw more new patients with hearing loss. “As people wear masks and practice social distancing, they can hear the smaller sound of conversations. Usually, they don’t realize their hearing loss, but they now feel uncomfortable and visit a hospital,” he said.
According to Moon, the number of hospital visits for respiratory diseases such as colds has declined, but more patients visit hospitals to receive a hearing test.
After tests, many patients wondered they had to wear a hearing aid that helps about 30 to 40 decibels (dB), he said.
Moon further explained that the patients felt more uncomfortable, especially when the consonants' sound, a high-frequency sound, decreased due to mask-wearing.
“It all depends on the level of hearing loss, but if you are uncomfortable with hearing due to mask-wearing and visit a hospital, you likely have a moderate hearing loss. In that case, you should use a hearing aid,” Moon said.
He said it is important to prevent hearing loss, and people need to manage it by wearing a hearing aid. However, as Koreans are highly reluctant to use hearing aids, the public should improve the perception of the hearing aid use first, he added.
Hearing loss can accompany various symptoms such as tinnitus, headache, dizziness, decreased concentration, weaker memory, and depression.
“Hearing aids are highly-priced, and people have a negative perception about them thinking they are worn only by the elderly or the disabled,” Moon said. “People should perceive that just like you wear glasses when you have poor eyesight, you have to wear a hearing aid if you have hearing loss.”