Scientists say non-Hispanic black U.S. adults have, on average, the best hearing in the nation, with women hearing better than men in general.
Overall, the nation’s hearing health remains about the same as it was 35 years ago, despite massive changes in society and technology.
William Murphy, Christa Themann, and Mark Stephenson at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati studied the hearing test results of more than 5,000 U.S. adults aged 20-69 who identified themselves as members of one of three major ethnic groups in the United States.
The researchers studied the adults’ hearing thresholds, the softest sound an individual can hear, over a range of frequencies. They found non-Hispanic blacks have the best hearing thresholds, non-Hispanic whites the worst, with Mexican Americans in between.
The study was presented last week during the Acoustical Society of America’s spring meeting in Providence, R.I.
