A recent study in the Journals of Gerontology reports that 63.1 percent of adults in the United States — nearly two out of every three — will contend with significant hearing loss by the time they’re 70. At age 85 and older, it’s four out of five.

With the first of 78 million baby boomers turning 66 in 2012, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to walk down the middle of any street in America and hear a chorus of blaring televisions.

There are nearly 23 million people older than 50 who are having trouble hearing but have yet to seek help. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University report that about six out of seven of Americans over 50 who have hearing loss don’t wear hearing aids.