The Prevalence and Incidence of
Hearing Loss in Children

• Over 1 million children in the U.S. have a hearing loss.
  ( U.S. Public Health Service, [1990]. Healthy People 2000. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.)

• 5% of children 18 years and under have hearing loss.
  (US Dept of Health and Human Services, [1991]. Healthy people 2000: National health promotion and disease prevention objectives  . DHHS Publication No. 91-50121. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents.)

• 1 in every 1000 infants born in the U.S. has a severe or profound hearing loss. (NIDCD, 1989)

• 83 out of every 1000 children in the U.S. have what is termed an educationally significant hearing loss.
  ( U.S. Public Health Service, [1990]. Healthy People 2000  . Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.)

• Among every 1000 school-age students in the U.S., 7 have bilateral and 16-19 have unilateral hearing losses that may significantly interfere with their education.
  (Berg, F.H. [1985]. The minimally hearing impaired child . Ear and Hearing  , 6, 43-47.) (Lundeen, C. [1991] Prevalence of hearing impairment among children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 22, 269-271.)

• Among school age children, severe to profound hearing loss occurs in about 9 children of every 1000.
  (Schein, J., and Delk, M. [1974]. The Deaf population of the United States  . Silver Spring, MD: national Association of the Deaf.)

• 10 in 1000 school age students have permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
  (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. [1993]. Guidelines for audiology services in the schools. Asha  , 35 (Suppl.10), pp. 24-32.)

• Approximately 30% of children who are hard of hearing have a disability in addition to a hearing loss
  (Wolff, A.B., & Harkins, J.E. [1986]. Multihandicapped students. In A.N. Schildroth and M.A. Karchmer (eds), Deaf children in America  [pp. 55-82]. San Diego, CA: College Hill Press.)

Back to Learning Main Site