Facts on Hearing Loss in Children
* Everyday in the US, 1 in 1,000 newborns is born profoundly deaf and another 2-3 in 1,000 is born with partial hearing loss making hearing loss the number 1 birth defect in America.
*95% of babies born with hearing loss are born to hearing parents.
*Newborn hearing loss is 20 times more prevalent than PKU, a condition for which all newborns are currently screened.
*86% of babies are now screened for hearing loss before 1 month of age however, only 56% who need diagnostic evaluations actually receive them by 3 month of age and only 53% of those diagnosed are enrolled in early intervention programs by 6 months of age.
*Infants identified with hearing loss can be fit with amplification by 4 weeks of age.
*When children are not identified and do not receive early intervention, special education for a child with hearing loss costs schools an additional 420,000 and has a lifetime cost of approximately $1 million per individual.
Facts on Cochlear Implants
*Approximately 70,000 people worldwide have cochlear implants.
*Approximately 25,000 people in the US have cochlear implants.
*Nearly half of all cochlear implant recipients are children.
*Cochlear implants can heal an estimated 200,000 children in the US who do not benefit from hearing aids.
*The demand for cochlear implants is increasing annually by 20%.
*A recent study on cochlear implants demonstrated that special education in elementary school is less necessary when children have had greater than two years of implant experience" before starting school. These children are mainstreamed at twice the rate or more of age-matched children with profound hearing loss who do not have implants.
*The benefits of a cochlear implant to society amounts to a lifetime savings of $53,198 per child.
*By the time a child with hearing loss graduates from high school, as much as $420,000 can be saved in special education costs if the child is identified and given appropriate intervention.
For information on hearing loss go to www.infanthearing.org or www.agbell.com
For information on newborn hearing screening in your state, visit www.asha.org