2021 Type and Severity Summary of Identified Cases of Hearing Loss
‹View Table of Contents
November 2023
Data Source: 2021 CDC Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Hearing Screening & Follow-up Survey (HSFS)
Background: CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities promotes the health of babies, children, and adults, with a focus on preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities and optimizing the health outcomes of people with disabilities. As part of these efforts, the center is actively involved in addressing the early identification of permanent hearing loss among newborns and infants.
Hearing loss affects between 1 and 2 per 1,000 infants in the United States and, when left undetected or untreated, can delay a child’s speech and language, social, and emotional development.1 To ensure children with permanent hearing loss are identified and receive services as soon after birth as possible, states and territories have implemented Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs. These EHDI programs work to ensure all infants
- Are screened for hearing loss, by 1 month of age
- Receive diagnostic, audiologic evaluation (for those not passing the screening), by 3 months of age
- Are enrolled in early intervention (for those identified with permanent hearing loss), by 6 months of age2
The Hearing Screening & Follow-up Survey (HSFS) is a voluntary survey sent out annually by CDC to each jurisdictional EHDI program. It requests aggregated hearing information on infants born in a specified calendar year (e.g., 2021). The survey helps to assess the progress of EHDI efforts to identify infants with permanent hearing loss across the United States.
This summary highlights type, severity, and laterality of permanent hearing loss for babies born between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Categories of severity are based on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) classification system for hearing loss. The ASHA categories are as follows:
| Degree of Hearing Loss | Hearing loss range (dB HL) |
|---|---|
| Normal |
-10 to 15 |
| Slight |
16 to 25 |
| Mild |
26 to 40 |
| Moderate |
41 to 55 |
| Moderately severe |
56 to 70 |
| Severe |
71 to 90 |
| Profound |
91+ |
Number of Survey Respondents Who Provided Type and Severity Data: 52α (48 states, 3 territories, 1 district) AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, CT, DE, District of Columbia, FL, GA, Guam, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, Puerto Rico, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
| Total Number of Reported Infants with Hearing Loss, 2021 CDC EHDI HSFS | 6,520 Children | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BILATERAL (by Ear) | UNILATERAL (by Ear) | LATERALITY UNKNOWN (i.e., Unknown if case is a unilateral or bilateral loss) | |||||||||
| RIGHT EAR | LEFT EAR | UNKNOWN EAR (degree of loss for each ear) | RIGHT EAR | LEFT EAR | UNKNOWN EAR | ||||||
|
Sensorineural |
Slight |
33 |
31 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
||
| Mild |
595 |
592 |
0 |
0 |
98 |
106 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Moderate |
697 |
681 |
0 |
0 |
90 |
114 |
0 |
2 |
|||
| Moderately Severe |
279 |
294 |
0 |
0 |
56 |
68 |
0 |
2 |
|||
| Severe |
242 |
240 |
0 |
0 |
85 |
80 |
0 |
2 |
|||
| Profound |
526 |
537 |
0 |
0 |
166 |
162 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Unknown Severity |
62 |
69 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
20 |
0 |
70 |
|||
|
Conductive |
Slight |
76 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
||
| Mild |
70 |
62 |
0 |
0 |
33 |
33 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Moderate |
92 |
90 |
0 |
0 |
100 |
68 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Moderately Severe |
85 |
85 |
0 |
0 |
187 |
88 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Severe |
34 |
30 |
0 |
0 |
47 |
41 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Unknown Severity |
48 |
50 |
0 |
0 |
90 |
44 |
0 |
16 |
|||
|
Mixed |
Slight |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
| Mild |
43 |
41 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Moderate |
76 |
85 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
27 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Moderately Severe |
81 |
85 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
25 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Severe |
58 |
49 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Profound |
24 |
33 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Unknown Severity |
20 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
|||
|
Type Unknown |
Slight |
13 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
||
| Mild |
66 |
76 |
0 |
0 |
31 |
23 |
0 |
16 |
|||
| Moderate |
58 |
64 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
23 |
1 |
18 |
|||
| Moderately Severe |
27 |
36 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
18 |
0 |
3 |
|||
| Severe |
29 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Profound |
31 |
31 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
7 |
0 |
6 |
|||
| Unknown Severity |
96 |
79 |
2 |
2 |
37 |
30 |
1 |
257 |
|||
|
Auditory Neuropathy |
Slight |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
| Mild |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Moderate |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Moderately Severe |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Severe |
11 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Profound |
20 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
19 |
0 |
0 |
|||
| Unknown Severity |
125 |
126 |
0 |
0 |
42 |
50 |
0 |
1 |
|||
| Totals by Ear |
3,559 |
3,563 |
2 |
2 |
1,258 |
1,133 |
2 |
410 |
|||
| Totals by Child |
3,561 |
2 |
1,258 |
1,133 |
2 |
410 |
|||||
| Laterality Totals (by Child) |
3,563 Bilateral Cases |
2,393 Unilateral Cases |
|
||||||||
| Total all Types and Severity (by Child) |
6,366 |
||||||||||
| Cases Resolved (i.e., hearing loss to no hearing loss) |
154 |
||||||||||
| Overall Total (by Child) |
6,520 |
||||||||||
Summary of Type and Severity of Identified Cases of Hearing Loss in 2021
References
1American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Effects of hearing loss on development. Available at: https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/effects-of-hearing-loss-on-development.
Accessed April 8, 2021
2Year 2019 Position Statement: Principles and Guidelines for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programs (2019). Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, 4(2), 1-44. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/jehdi/vol4/iss2/1/
Table of Contents
- 2021 Annual Data
- 2021 Summary of National CDC EHDI Data
- 2021 Summary of Hearing Screening Among Total Occurrent Births
- 2021 Summary of Detailed Hearing Screening Results
- 2021 Summary of Infants Screened Before 1 Month of Age
- 2021 Summary of Reasons for No Documented Hearing Screening Among Total Occurrent Births
- 2021 Summary of Diagnostics Among Infants Not Passing Hearing Screening
- 2021 Summary of Infants Not Passing Hearing Screening Diagnosed Before 3 Months of Age
- 2021 Summary of Reasons for No Documented Diagnosis Among Infants Not Passing Hearing Screening
- 2021 Summary of Early Intervention (EI) Among Infants Identified with Permanent Hearing Loss
- 2021 Summary of Infants Identified with Permanent Hearing Loss Enrolled in Early Intervention (EI) Before 6 Months of Age
- 2021 Summary of Reasons for No Documented Early Intervention (EI) Services Among Infants Identified with Permanent Hearing Loss
- ›2021 Type and Severity Summary of Identified Cases of Hearing Loss
- 2021 Demographics