Susie Burdick, chief executive officer of the Hearing, Speech and Deafness Center in Seattle, Wash., made an appointment for an audiogram or hearing test at her own business last year. She was planning on showing it to her husband and telling him, "It's not me -- you mumble."

But it was her, the test proved.

What's more, when she thought back, she knew one reason her hearing in her left ear had been damaged. That's why named her hearing aid Jimi, after Jimi Hendrix.

"Jimi Hendrix played at the first concert I went to, probably in 1970. I loved to dance and hang out near the band on the left of the stage, with my left side toward the speakers," Burdick said. Rock concerts that followed, and power tools she used without hearing protection, and no doubt her age as well, contributed to her present hearing loss.

Nancy Steeves, executive director of Northeast Hearing and Speech Center in Portland, said that Boomers are just getting into the age group when hearing loss because of age begins to play a part.

"Rock concerts, riding motorcycles, using chainsaws to cut the wood for the wood stove, target shooting, hunting, snowmobiles, lawnmowers, leaf blowers -- they can all play a part. They are all things that people should start protecting their ears against," she said.

Carole Rogin, president of the Hearing Industries Association based in Washington, D.C., said one advantage for boomers needing help with their hearing is their comfort with amplification.

"Boomers grew up in a switched-on society, exposing themselves to excruciatingly loud music in their homes, their cars, and elsewhere," she said. With all 78 million of us aging, hearing loss is inevitable. About 10 percent of the population is going to suffer from it, she said.

The new hearing aids are discreet, fitting closely behind the ear and snaking a little tube inside the ear. Rogin said that cosmetic improvement had made many boomers feel happier with the hearing aids they buy.

Rogin's industry group is lobbying to pass a tax change in the United States Legislature, for a tax credit of $500 per hearing aid for buyers 55 and older. With prices around $2,000 each for the high tech models, and no coverage by Medicare or most private insurance companies, paying for the best way to hear can be another impediment to taking care of the problem.

-- Nancy English