Press release
09.09.2011 - Sennheiser UK
VANITY CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR HARD-OF-HEARING BRITONS
- An estimated 900,000 Brits don’t use an audiology headset because it will make them feel old
- An estimated 1 million Brits admit their hearing problems cause arguments with their partner
Millions of British people with hearing problems are suffering unnecessarily – and damaging their family relationship – because of personal vanity, according to research from audio manufacturer Sennheiser www.sennheiser.co.uk
Sennheiser’s survey* of 551 people with mild or moderate hearing problems found that the vast majority (87%) don’t use an audiology headset – a specially designed device that can be plugged into a TV, stereo or other piece of audio equipment – to help a person with hearing difficulties hear it better.
In fact, a third (33%) of these people were unaware that such headset products even existed, while the other 54% knew about them but chose not to use them.
If this is reflected across the 6.7m** adults in Britain who have hearing difficulties, it would mean millions of people are missing out on an easy way to improve their quality of life.
When asked why they didn’t use these headsets, nearly one in five of those surveyed (19%) said it was because it would make them feel old, while similar numbers cited not liking how the headsets would make them look (17%) and claimed that they would be ashamed or embarrassed to use them (14%).
This is despite the strain their hearing problems can place on their families. Nearly one in five of those surveyed (18%) said that their hearing problem causes arguments with their partner, while one in 10 (10%) said it causes arguments with the rest of the family. One in 11 (9%) said their family members often leave the room when they’re watching TV or listening to music because they have to have the volume turned up.
Meanwhile a huge 39% of people with a hearing problem have never sought medical advice about it. Perhaps surprisingly, more women (42%) then men (37%) have chosen not to go to the doctors about their difficulty, despite the stereotypical view that men are most reluctant to ask for professional help.
Former snooker World Champion Dennis Taylor, who is backing the Sennheiser audiology range, said: “About one in six people in the UK have a hearing problem, yet many people still struggle on without using devices that could help them and improve things for their family too. I’ve used an audiology headset for many years and I know the benefits they bring. We need to spread the message that these headsets are a simple solution for a condition that, at its most serious, can isolate people and even divide families.”
Andy Lewis, business development manager at Sennheiser, said: “There are millions of people in Britain who have hearing problems that aren’t severe enough to warrant a hearing aid. Lots of these people seem to assume that they simply have to live with the negative consequences of their poor hearing – turning up the volume on their TVs, radios and stereos and thereby damaging the quality of life of their partners and children.
“In fact, audiology headsets could make a huge difference and it’s often only vanity holding people back from using them. We need a major shift in public understanding so that wearing a headset is seen as a positive sign of improving your life, not an admission of weakness or age.
“More than a quarter** of people with a hearing problem told our researchers that their hearing problem started before they were 30 years old, so we know that this is a problem that is increasingly affecting people across the generations and by no means confined just to the elderly.”
* Research conducted by CIE Group of 551 people, aged 30+, with mild to moderate hearing difficulties, July 2011
**ONS Living In Britain survey, 2004
***26%
For more information about Sennheiser please visit www.sennheiser.co.uk or www.hearthedifference.co.uk
Olivia Allen
Harvard PR
020 7861 3967
About Sennheiser
The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. The family-owned company, which was established in 1945, recorded sales of around €390 million in 2009. Sennheiser employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, and has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres).