Hearing health and the role of charities in healthcare globally

Abstract Hearing loss affects 1.5 billion people globally. Unaddressed hearing loss can create barriers to social engagement, cause isolation, and is one of the largest potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia. Encouraging people to check their hearing and wear hearing aids if required makes a big difference to the quality of life today. Technology offers significant opportunities to transform hearing health services to meet growing needs, and provide easily accessible services in the communities that need them. And developments in biomedical research provide optimism about the potential for future treatments and cures. Health professionals and researchers have a fundamental role to play in addressing hearing loss. Evidence-based charities should also play a crucial role in health issues like hearing loss, by combining knowledge of the priorities of people with lived experience, with credible expertise in audiology, biomedical research and behavioral psychology, backed by public trust. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People is the UK national charity for hearing loss, and in this commentary their CEO describes the challenges and opportunities in hearing health and for healthcare charities globally.