Facts About Deafness

• Deafness is the most common birth defect – every day, 33 babies are born with some form of hearing loss. (Watkin, Baldwin, and McEnery, 1991; Parving, 1993; White and Behrens, 1993.)
  
  
• Hearing loss is evident in 3 of 1,000 live births.
  
  
• About 20% of infants born with a hearing impairment have a profound hearing loss and would benefit from a cochlear implant. The remainder have milder, yet significant hearing loss that would benefit from hearing aids.
  
  
• There were 14,866 live births in Hillsborough County in 2001, given the stated prevalence rate we can estimate that 44 children were born with hearing loss that year.
  
  
• 90% of deaf and hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing parents.
  
  
• The majority of deaf children have useful residual hearing. (Bezold & Siebenmann, 1908; Goldstein, 1939; Ubantschitsch, 1982)
  
  
• In order to benefit from the “critical periods” of neurological and linguistic development, the identification of hearing impairment, use of appropriate amplification and medical technology, and stimulation of hearing must occur as early as possible. ( Clopton & Winfield, 1976; Johnson & Newport, 1989; Lennenberg, 1967; Marler, 1970; Newport, 1990)
  
  
• In addition to its importance in a child’s cognitive development, early identification of hearing loss also has financial consequences for society.
  
  
• In 1991 the median income of the general population was $24,575 per year (US Dept. of Labor, 1995). The manually communicating deaf in the US earn 30% less than the general population. (Schein & Delk, 1994)
  
  
• According to the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, the cost of educating a deaf child through high school is over $420,000. The same child, if identified at birth and given a $40,000 cochlear implant or $5,000 hearing aid, and appropriate auditory habilitation, can attend mainstream elementary and high school classes.
  
  
• The combined expenses of deaf education and loss of productivity result in average lifetime costs of over $1 million per deaf individual.
  
  
• Every year, the total income lost as a result of deafness is approximately $2.5 billion. (Benefits of Screening at Birth: Economic, Educational, and Functional Factors, Marion P. Downs, M.A., March 1993)