Why I—and 50 Million Other Americans—Can't Hear You Audiologists agree that we're experiencing a national epidemic of hearing loss. At present 17% of the American population suffer some degree of hearing loss. More than 50% are under the age of 55. In cases like Katherine Bouton who experienced sudden onset at the age of 30 the cause is unknown. Katherine Bouton began to lose her hearing at the age of 30 and it continued to deteriorate during her 22 year career as editor at The New York Times. In this deftly written and deeply felt look at a widespread and widely misunderstood phenomenon Bouton recounts her own journey into deafness—and her return to the hearing world through the miracles of technology. She speaks with doctors audiologists neurobiologists and others searching for causes and cure as well as with those who have experienced hearing loss interweaving their stories with her own. [Katherine Bouton; (2014) 288 pages; soft cover]