General Statistics

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Center for ealth Statistics approximates that 34 million Americans have a significant hearing loss; of these, almost 6 million are profoundly deaf.
• 90% of all deaf children are born into normal hearing families.
• Of those families, only 10% ever learn to effectively communicate with their deaf child.  The other 90% do not.
• American Sign Language is the third most commonly used language in the United States.
• Deafness is the No. 1 birth defect in the United States.
• 85% of deaf high school graduates only read at a 3rd - 4th grade level.
• Deafness is the most costly single disability in terms of special education costs, averaging $25,000 per year per child, compared to $5,100 for a normal hearing child.
• The average lifetime cost to society of a child born deaf in terms of medical, educational, and productivity losses is $1,020,000.

The Prevalence of Hearing Loss in Children

• Over 1 million children in the United States have a hearing loss.
• 6 in every 1000 infants born in the United States has some degree of hearing loss.
• About 3 out of every 1000 infants born in the United States has a severe or profound hearing loss.
• 83 out of every 1000 children in the United States have what is termed an educationally significant hearing loss.

Myths Regarding Deafness

Click here for some common misconceptions about deafness and people who are deaf. 

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