Earbuds: can they be used as hearing aids?

By Michael A Stone, Senior Research Fellow, Division of Human Communication, Development and Hearing, University of Manchester

Hearing loss is a major global issue. Around 5% of the world population, 430 million, have disabling hearing loss. With ageing populations, this burden will only increase.

The primary remedy is the simple hearing aid. It is an essential helpmate to ensure continued social contact and quality of life. Simple, but not necessarily cheap. They cost around US$1,000 (£850) per ear for a reasonable quality device – not an insubstantial amount, especially in times of austerity. Although,…

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