This year’s World Hearing Day (3 March 2016) is raising awareness of the impact of childhood hearing loss worldwide. As a leading provider of hearing implant systems, MED-EL is getting behind this cause with our new video, ‘Through the ears of a child’, which shows how much of a difference hearing can make as children grow and explore the world.
This year’s World Hearing Day (3 March 2016) is raising awareness of the impact of childhood hearing loss worldwide. As a leading provider of hearing implant systems, MED-EL is getting behind this cause with our new video, ‘Through the ears of a child’, which shows how much of a difference hearing can make as children grow and explore the world.
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Around
360 million
people live with disabling hearing loss; of these, nearly
32 million
are children1
According to the World Health Organization, up to
5 of every 1,000 infants
are born with or develop disabling hearing loss in early childhood2
Research shows that children with hearing loss are
more likely to benefit
from a hearing implant if it is received at a young age, before they learn to speak3
Early intervention
also means that children with severe hearing loss can achieve close to normal oral communication and sound detection skills, which means they can develop and learn at the same rate as other children4,5
1. World Health Organization (WHO). Childhood Hearing Loss: Act Now, Here is How! Brochure (2016). http://www.who.int/pbd/deafness/world-hearing-day/WHD2016_Brochure_EN_2.pdf?ua=1. Accessed February 2016
2. World Health Organization (WHO). 10 facts on deafness (2015). http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/deafness/facts/en/. Accessed February 2016
3. Valencia D M et al. Cochlear implantation in infants less than 12 months of age. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2008 Jun; 72(6):767-73.
4. Moeller M et al. Vocalizations of infants with hearing loss compared with infants with normal hearing: Part I – phonetic development. Ear Hear. 28(5), 2007 Sep:605-627.
5. Moeller M et al. Vocalizations of infants with hearing loss compared with infants with normal hearing: Part II – transition to words. Ear Hear. 28(5), 2007 Sep:628-642.