III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 83 

Supporting the goals and ideals of National Better Hearing and Speech 

Month. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2008 

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 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of National Better Hearing 

and Speech Month. 

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; 


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•SCON 83 IS 

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; 


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•SCON 83 IS 

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 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) supports the goals and ideals of National 

4 Better Hearing and Speech Month; 


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•SCON 83 IS 

1 (2) urges increased coordination of community2 based, comprehensive care for members of the 

3 Armed Forces, veterans, athletes, and accident vic4 tims who have experienced hearing and speech defi5 ciencies as a result of traumatic brain injury; 

6 (3) supports the efforts of speech and hearing 

7 professionals to improve the speech and hearing de8 velopment of children; 

9 (4) encourages the people of the United States 

10 to have their hearing checked regularly and to avoid 

11 environmental noise that can lead to hearing loss; 

12 and 

13 (5) commends the 46 States that have imple14 mented routine hearing screenings for every newborn 

15 before the newborn leaves the hospital. 

Æ 


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