More than a quarter of the UK’s population are estimated to have some form of hearing loss, researchers have found.

New analysis by the universities of Manchester and Nottingham has shown about 18 million people are affected, six million more than previously thought.

The study used census projections and a broader definition of hearing loss to “modernise” the UK’s hearing loss statistics, co-author Prof Michael Akeroyd said.

He said he hoped the results would “encourage more people to realise how common hearing loss is”.

Academics looked back at the most recent censuses in England, Scotland and Wales as part of the study.

They then used population projections to find a further 4.6 million people were estimated to have hearing loss.

Previous hearing loss data was gathered using a definition from the 1980s which meant “millions of people’s experiences” were “effectively dismissed”, said Prof Kevin Munro from the University of Manchester.

It meant they were “effectively left out of the national conversation” because they were not included in official statistics, he added.

If milder degrees of hearing loss, including problems in only one ear were included, the total of those affected surpassed 18 million people, according to the study.

Victoria Boelman from the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, said the new data now reflected “the real-life experience of the 18 million people in the UK”.

Researchers have called for a further report, despite the revised estimates, to look into the impact of factors like recreational noise exposure and greater population diversity.