The Foundation for the Deaf's demanding the Government set up a working group to address hearing loss in New Zealand.

LISTEN ABOVE: Mike Hosking talks to The Foundation for the Deaf's chief executive, Louise Carroll, about the issue of hearing loss in New Zealand.

They've just released a report completed by Deloitte, which says 880,000 Kiwis suffer some form of hearing loss, and that costs us almost $5 billion a year.

Foundation chief executive Louise Carroll told Mike Hosking the Government needs to be proactive about the problem.

"This is a wake up call New Zealand, we have to stand up and do something about this, otherwise we're leaving future generations with a huge burden of hearing loss."