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Learn about the causes, impacts, and prevention of hearing loss, including genetic factors, noise exposure, infections, and more. Discover the effects of hearing loss on speech and language acquisition and the quality of life. Find out about hereditary and progressive hearing loss, as well as common conditions like Meniere's disease and presbycusis. Understand the significance of noise-induced hearing loss, otitis media, and the rising prevalence of hearing loss among boomers. Explore objectives for newborn hearing screening, reducing otitis media, and improving rehabilitation for adults with hearing impairments. Find out about the importance of hearing examinations, referrals, ear protection, and reducing hearing loss disparities. Discover opportunities for early identification, public health education, assistive technologies, and collaboration with disabilities and occupational health organizations. Join the WISE EARS initiative led by NIDCD and NIOSH in their efforts to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
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Hearing Overview -An estimated 28 million people in the U.S. are deaf or hard of hearing. -Some 1,465,000 individuals aged 3 years and over are deaf in both ears.
Etiology • Genetic factors • Noise or trauma • Sensitivity to certain drugs or medications • Viral or bacterial infections
Hearing and Language • Impact of hearing loss speech and/or language acquisition • Average age at diagnosis: estimated range, 14 months to 3 years • Quality of life
Hereditary Hearing Loss • More than 300 inherited syndromes involved in hearing impairment or deafness. Hearing loss may also be non-syndromic, but inherited. Some hearing loss is late-onset.
Progressive Hearing Loss • One cause of progressive or late-onset hearing loss is otosclerosis, affecting 1 out of 100 adults in the U.S. population.
Other major causes of hearing loss • Meniere’s disease--causing bilateral, often fluctuating hearing loss in 20-40% of cases, usually in conjunction with balance disorders and tinnitus. • Presbycusis affects 30% of adults who are 65 or older. About half the population over 75 has significant hearing loss.
Tinnitus affects almost 15% of individuals 45 and older and is associated with many forms of hearing loss. • More than 8% of the population has both visual and hearing impairment.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) • Approximately 10 million Americans have irreversible hearing loss from noise. Additionally, 30 million are estimated to be exposed to injurious levels of noise. • NIHL is the most common occupational disease and the second most self-reported disease or injury. NIHL is PREVENTABLE!
Otitis Media: Middle Ear Infection • 24.5 million visits to doctors’ offices • Most frequently cited reason for taking child to the emergency room • Health care costs are reported between $3 and $5 billion/year • Can affect children during critical period for language acquisition
Boomers • People are losing their hearing earlier in life. • Men are more frequently affected in the 35 to 60-year-old group.
Newborn HearingScreening, Evaluation and Intervention • Increase the proportion of newborns who are screened for hearing loss by age 1 month, have audiologic evaluation by age 3 months, and are enrolled in appropriate intervention services by 6 months.
Otitis Media • Reduce otitis media in children and adolescents.
Rehabilitation for Adults • (Developmental) Increase access by persons who have hearing impairments to hearing rehabilitation services and adaptive devices, including hearing aids, cochlear implants, or tactile or other assistive or augmentative devices.
Hearing Examinations • (Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons who have had a hearing exam on schedule.
Referral • (Developmental) Increase the number of persons who are referred by their primary care physician for hearing evaluation and treatment.
Ear protection • Increase the use of appropriate ear protection devices, equipment, and practices.
NIHL in children • (Developmental) Reduce NIHL in children and adolescents under the age of 17 years.
NIHL and adults • (Developmental) Reduce adult hearing loss in the noise-exposed public.
Disparities • Communication Disorders in the Communication Age: Early identification, evaluation, and intervention can narrow the gap • Older people and hearing loss • Men and hearing loss
Opportunities • Early identification • Public health education • Assistive technologies • Collaboration with Disabilities and Occupational Health organizations
WISE EARS! • NIDCD leads, with our partners at NIOSH, 81 organizations committed to a public education effort to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in the public and the worker. • Strategic collaboration • Media attention and support • Local, national, and regional effort