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Nearly 96,000 occupational hearing loss cases. 13,900 companies. Nine years of data — through August 2024. The national picture of workplace hearing loss in America is not a straight line. It is a story of pre-pandemic growth, a COVID detection gap, a full recovery, a 2023 peak, and a 2024 that is on pace to set a new record. Here is what the trend shows, what drove each phase, and what it means for employers in 2026.
Soundtrace processed nine years of OSHA ITA hearing loss data across 21,120 establishments. This is the national trend companion to our industry rate analysis and state-level breakdown. Note: 2024 data reflects cases recorded through August 2024 only. The projected portion is an annualized estimate and will be updated when the complete dataset is available.
The chart below shows recorded hearing loss cases by year. The 2024 bar is split: the solid green portion represents confirmed cases through August 2024, and the striped orange portion represents the projected remainder of the year based on annualizing the 8-month total. The final 2024 figure will be updated when the complete dataset is available.
| Year | Recorded Cases | YoY Change | Key Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | ~9,900 | Baseline | Stable pre-pandemic growth period begins |
| 2017 | ~10,200 | +3% | Growing ITA reporting compliance |
| 2018 | ~10,700 | +5% | Expanding ITA submission universe |
| 2019 | ~11,400 | +7% | Pre-pandemic peak; strong manufacturing output |
| 2020 | ~7,500 | −34% | COVID detection gap — testing suspended, not cases eliminated |
| 2021 | ~9,600 | +28% | Testing resumes; deferred audiograms completed |
| 2022 | ~10,700 | +11% | Full operations return; catch-up testing continues |
| 2023 | ~13,000 | +21% | Backlog of deferred threshold shifts surfaces; prior peak |
| 2024 (Jan–Aug) | ~10,600 | Partial year | 8 of 12 months recorded; on pace to exceed 2023 |
| 2024 (proj. full yr) | ~15,900 | +22% est. | Annualized estimate — would be new dataset peak if confirmed |
The nine-year trend is best understood as five distinct phases, each driven by different forces.
Gradual year-over-year growth driven by expanding ITA submission compliance and stable manufacturing output. The 2019 total of approximately 11,400 established the pre-pandemic baseline.
A 34% single-year drop explained almost entirely by testing suspension and ITA disruption — not by fewer workers losing hearing. The 2020 figure represents cases that were detected and recorded, not cases that actually occurred. Most missing detections surfaced in 2021–2023 as deferred testing resumed.
Rapid bounce-back as facilities reopened and deferred audiograms were completed. By 2022 the annual figure had returned to 2018–2019 levels, confirming the 2020 dip was a data artifact rather than a genuine health improvement.
The 2023 figure of approximately 13,000 cases — the prior dataset peak — reflects workers whose threshold shifts accumulated over the 2020–2021 testing gap and were finally detected when annual audiograms resumed. A shift that developed over three years appeared in the record as a single 2022 or 2023 case.
With 10,600 cases confirmed through August 2024, the annualized projection of approximately 15,900 cases would be the highest full-year total in the dataset. The 2024 bar in the chart above shows both what is confirmed (solid green) and what remains to be reported (striped orange). Even a conservative second-half estimate would likely push the full-year 2024 total above 2023.
The 34% single-year drop in 2020 is the most visually dramatic feature of the trend line, but also the most misleading if taken at face value. It does not mean fewer workers experienced hearing loss. It means fewer cases were detected and recorded.
When facilities shut down or reduced operations in spring 2020, audiometric testing programs were suspended. Workers who would have received annual audiograms in spring or summer 2020 were not tested until 2021 or 2022. Any threshold shift that developed or worsened during that gap went undetected until the next test.
The 2020 drop is a detection failure, not a health outcome improvement. Workers did not stop experiencing noise-induced hearing loss. They stopped having it measured.
The downstream consequence is visible in the 2022 and 2023 surge: workers who went 18–24 months without audiometric testing showed up with accumulated threshold shifts when testing resumed. The 2020 low and the 2022–2023 high are two sides of the same disruption.
Facilities that suspended testing in 2020 and did not conduct systematic make-up testing may still have workers with undetected shifts. OSHA has no formal mechanism requiring make-up audiograms for deferred years. Workers in high-noise environments who went untested during the pandemic may have accumulated changes that have still not been captured.
The dataset figure of 10,600 cases reflects confirmed records through August 2024 only — eight of twelve months. The dashboard’s –11.5% YoY comparison measures the same Jan–Aug window against 2023. It is accurate for that window. It does not indicate the full year will be lower.
Annualizing 10,600 cases over eight months projects a full-year 2024 total of approximately 15,900 cases — roughly 22% above the 2023 peak of 13,000 and the highest annual total in the nine-year dataset.
OSHA ITA reporting is back-weighted. Many employers submit 300A records in the fall and early winter after annual testing cycles complete. The September–December period typically carries a disproportionate share of the year’s case submissions. The final four months of 2024 data — not yet available — are the most consequential ones for the full-year figure.
There are scenarios where the full-year 2024 figure comes in below 15,900 — if submission patterns shifted, or if Q3/Q4 manufacturing output was lower. But the base case, given the confirmed partial-year trajectory, is that 2024 will meet or exceed 2023.
Excluding the COVID detection gap, the trend from 2016 to projected 2024 is clearly upward: from approximately 9,900 cases to a projected 15,900 — a roughly 60% increase over eight years. Three factors likely compound each other.
More employers submit 300A data each year as OSHA enforcement of the electronic submission requirement has increased. More submissions means more captured cases, even at stable underlying rates. Some portion of the growth is simply better data collection.
Noise-induced hearing loss accumulates over time. A workforce with more tenure in noisy environments will show more threshold shifts in annual audiograms even at stable noise exposure levels. As the industrial workforce ages, audiometric testing catches more cumulative damage.
Better hearing conservation programs — more frequent testing, better equipment, in-house platforms — may detect more cases that previously went unrecorded. A worker tested annually rather than every other year will produce more recordable STS detections over the same period.
Soundtrace provides the audiometric testing infrastructure, STS tracking, and audit-ready documentation to benchmark your program at the facility level — not just against a national average that masks significant variation.
Get a Free QuoteWatch a DemoThe Soundtrace dataset contains 95,947 hearing loss cases from 13,900 companies across all 50 states, covering 2016 through August 2024. The 2024 figure is partial — the full-year total will be updated when complete data is available.
The 2020 drop is a detection gap, not a health improvement. Audiometric testing was suspended at most facilities during the pandemic. Workers did not stop experiencing noise exposure — they stopped being tested. Most missing detections surfaced in 2021–2023 when testing resumed.
With 10,600 cases confirmed through August 2024 — eight of twelve months — the annualized projection is approximately 15,900 cases for the full year. That would be a new nine-year dataset peak, roughly 22% above the 2023 high. This is an estimate; the actual figure will be confirmed when the complete 2024 ITA data is available.
The trend is not improving. Excluding the COVID detection gap, the pre-pandemic trajectory was already upward, and the 2024 partial data projects a new peak. The increase reflects a mix of expanding ITA reporting compliance, an aging industrial workforce, improved testing access, and continued hearing loss incidence.
The 13,900 companies represent establishments required to submit OSHA 300A data — those with 20+ employees in high-hazard NAICS codes. The actual universe of employers with OSHA 1910.95 hearing conservation obligations is far larger. The dataset captures a significant but incomplete sample of the national burden.