Facts and Figures

• About 34 million people in the United States have some degree of reduced hearing sensitivity

  • Of this number 80% have irreversible hearing loss

  • 6 of the 34 million are profoundly deaf

• Over 1 million children in the United States have a hearing loss

• 5% of children under the age of 18 have a hearing loss

• Among every 1,000 school-age students in the United States, 7 have  bilateral and 16-19 have unilateral hearing losses that may interfere with their education

• Approximately 30% of children have a disability in addition to their hearing loss

Interesting Facts

• Hearing loss is the most common congenital anomaly in newborns

• Any degree of hearing loss can be educationally handicapping for children

• A child with a mild to moderate hearing loss can miss up to 50% of what is being said in the classroom

• Unmanaged hearing loss can significantly impact a child’s speech and language development, academic capabilities and educational development, self-image, and social/emotional development

• The average age for identification of hearing loss in infants is 2 ½ to 3 years of age (this is past the critical age of speech and language development)

• Even children who are minutes old can be tested for hearing loss in a safe, painless and easy to administer way

• 93% of deaf children are born into a hearing family