Whereas the National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders reports that approximately 42,000,000 people in the
United States suffer from a speech, voice, language, or hearing
impairment;
Whereas approximately 32,500,000, or 15 percent, of adults
in the United States report some degree of hearing loss;
Whereas 1 out of every 3 people in the United States over
60 years of age has a hearing problem;
Whereas 1 in 6, or 15 percent, of people in the baby boom
generation, between the ages of 41 and 59, has a hearing problem;
Whereas 1 in 14, or 7 percent, of people in the United
States between the ages of 29 and 40 already has hearing loss;
Whereas at least 1,400,000 children in the United States
have hearing problems;
Whereas traumatic brain injury is an increasing problem
among members of the Armed Forces returning from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan;
Whereas patients with traumatic brain injury may have
problems with spoken language, called dysarthria, if the part of the brain that
controls speech muscles is damaged, resulting in speech that is often slowed,
slurred, and garbled;
Whereas members of the Armed Forces sent to battle zones
are more than 50 times more likely to suffer noise-induced hearing loss than
members of the Armed Forces who do not deploy;
Whereas, although more than 32,500,000 adults in the
United States could benefit from the use of hearing aids, only 1 in 5 people
who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wears one;
Whereas, of children between the ages of 6 and 19 years
old, approximately 5,200,000, or 12.5 percent, are estimated to have
noise-induced hearing loss in one or both ears, often as a result of increased
environmental noise;
Whereas hearing loss is the most common congenital
disorder in newborns;
Whereas a delay in diagnosing a hearing loss when a child
is born can affect the child’s social, emotional, and academic
development;
Whereas, during the 2003 school year, more than 1,500,000
children had speech, language, or hearing impairments and received services
under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et
seq.);
Whereas children with language impairments are 4 to 5
times more likely than their peers to experience reading problems;
Whereas 10 percent of children entering the first grade
have moderate to severe speech disorders, including stuttering;
Whereas more than 3,000,000 people in the United States of
all ages stutter;
Whereas approximately 1,000,000 people in the United
States have aphasia, a language disorder inhibiting spoken communication that
results from damage caused by a stroke or other traumatic injury to the
language centers of the brain; and
Whereas, since 1927, May has been celebrated as National
Better Hearing and Speech Month in order to raise awareness regarding speech,
voice, language, and hearing impairments and to provide an opportunity for
Federal, State, and local governments, members of the private and nonprofit
sectors, speech and hearing professionals, and the people of the United States
to focus on preventing, mitigating, and curing such impairments: Now,
therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)supports the
goals and ideals of National Better Hearing and Speech Month;
(2)urges increased
coordination of community-based, comprehensive care for members of the Armed
Forces, veterans, athletes, and accident victims who have experienced hearing
and speech deficiencies as a result of traumatic brain injury;
(3)supports the
efforts of speech and hearing professionals to improve the speech and hearing
development of children;
(4)encourages the
people of the United States to have their hearing checked regularly and to
avoid environmental noise that can lead to hearing loss; and
(5)commends the 46
States that have implemented routine hearing screenings for every newborn
before the newborn leaves the hospital.