March 25, 2021
National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group led by Dr. Koichiro Wasano, Director of the Auditory Research Laboratory at the National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, and Professor Iku Ogawa of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, has constructed a database on age-related hearing changes from over 10,000 individuals. This was achieved by analyzing the results of approximately 70,000 past hearing tests and extracting data from subjects unaffected by ear diseases other than age-related changes. This database is the largest of its kind in the world and the first to include sex-specific data across a wide age range from the teens to the 90s. The average hearing levels for Japanese people by sex and age, as clarified in this study, are expected to become foundational data for proactive interventions that utilize hearing, such as in dementia prevention.
The study also revealed a gradual decline in high-frequency (4000 Hz) hearing among younger people in their 40s and below over the 20-year period covered. This is thought to be due to the effects of daily noise exposure from sources such as portable music devices, and the findings suggest the need for measures against excessive volume levels from earphones and headphones.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of "The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific" on March 24, 2021 (Japan Standard Time).
Please see below for the full press release.