This independent ENT Daily Dispatch analysis uses CDC PLACES materials and historical model estimates. Originals are available on CDC’s website without charge. This use and these links do not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government of ENT Daily Dispatch, its owner, or their products and services.
The crude and age-adjusted versions of CDC’s county hearing-disability estimate usually differed in a historical file examined by ENT Daily Dispatch. Across 2,956 matched county pairs, the median crude-minus-adjusted difference was 1.6 percentage points. The middle half of signed differences extended from 0.9 to 2.3 points. These are summaries of model outputs, not newly measured changes in hearing.
Each county contributed one pair: its stored “Crude prevalence” value and its stored “Age-adjusted prevalence” value. The calculation subtracted adjusted from crude, then summarized that distribution with equal weight for each county. A populous county therefore counted the same as a less populous county. The result describes the available county pairs; it is not a population-weighted estimate of hearing disability among U.S. adults.
Crude estimates were higher in 2,768 pairs, lower in 156 and identical at the stored precision in 32. Those directions refer to the retained values, not inaccessible unrounded estimates. A positive gap indicates which labeled estimate is larger; it does not establish why the estimates differ. No rounding-error range was inferred from the stored numbers.
The hearing measure uses 2023 BRFSS survey inputs in CDC’s December 2025 PLACES release. The calculations were prepared on October 15, 2026, using a fixed retained dataset version. CDC’s release-notes page is dated March 16, 2026. These dates describe different stages of the record; the new analysis does not turn the file into a measurement of hearing in 2026.
The retained file contained 5,912 estimate records, forming 2,956 complete pairs. That accounts for the retained file, not every U.S. county. Null estimates were excluded before this analysis, and CDC says Kentucky and Pennsylvania estimates are unavailable for measures based on 2023 BRFSS. Neither missing records nor missing states were assigned zero. No external all-county completeness rate was calculated.
The supplied 95% interval widths were also summarized separately. Their median width was 2.2 percentage points for crude estimates and 1.8 for adjusted estimates. These are marginal model intervals, not an interval for the crude-minus-adjusted gap. We did not turn those marginal limits into a difference interval or significance test. The different widths establish no comparative accuracy claim. Joint model draws were not available to this analysis.
CDC describes age-adjusted county estimates as a tool for comparisons that account for potential age-distribution differences. This analysis compares the labeled fields without reconstructing that adjustment. We did not reconstruct CDC’s reference population or age weights, and the results support no target-specific explanation or causal age effect. The estimates also cannot establish the effect of a local intervention.
For an ENT reader, the numerical finding makes the estimate label consequential: the two fields are not interchangeable across this file. The earlier Dispatch methods guide covers the measure’s survey basis and coverage limits. Here, the added result is the distribution of their paired differences. It provides no county ranking, diagnosis, treatment eligibility, appointment forecast or account of local service capacity.
Go to the source.
CDC PLACES: County Data, 2025 release ↗CDC official metadata for PLACES county dataset swc5-untb ↗CDC PLACES methodology ↗CDC PLACES Frequently Asked Questions ↗CDC PLACES disability measure definitions ↗CDC PLACES current release notes ↗CDC Use of Agency Materials ↗How to read CDC’s county hearing estimates ↗This methods explainer describes historical model-based survey estimates. It does not diagnose a condition, forecast appointments or establish treatment eligibility.
