[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 21, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4626-S4627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 83--SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF 
                NATIONAL BETTER HEARING AND SPEECH MONTH

  Mr. REID (for Mrs. Clinton (for herself and Mrs. Murray)) submitted 
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

[[Page S4627]]

                            S. Con. Res. 83

       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
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), 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.

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