A startling new finding by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore shows that your risk of losing your hearing is growing at a blistering pace, and will nearly double between now and 2060. It’s partly due to the fact that the population is aging, but it’s a bit concerning to hear that researchers expect the number of adults with hearing loss to increase from 44 million in 2020 (15 percent) to 73.5 million in 2060 (23 percent).

Older adults, not surprisingly, will lead this increase. About 55 percent of adults with hearing loss will be 70 or older in 2020, and the rate will jump to 67 percent in 2060.

“In the coming decades, there will be an increased need for affordable interventions and access to hearing health care services,” said lead study author Adele Goman according to a CBS report. ““Hearing loss is a major public health issue that will affect many more adults. In order to address this issue, novel and cost-effective approaches to hearing health care are needed.”

“These projections can inform policy makers and public health researchers in planning appropriately for the future audiologic hearing health care needs of society,” the authors write in a statement. “Given the projected increase in the number of people with hearing loss that may strain future resources, greater attention to primary (reducing incidence of hearing loss), secondary (reducing progression of hearing loss), and tertiary (treating hearing loss to reduce functional sequelae) prevention strategies is needed to address this major public health issue.”