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10/10/2015  |   2:15 PM - 3:00 PM   |  Andrew Foster Auditorium

Intellectual Disabilities and Hearing Loss: The Forgotten Many Identified by a Public Health Model of Hearing Health Services

Undetected/untreated hearing loss imposes significant limitations upon adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). The hearing of 9,961 adults with ID was evaluated at Special Olympics sports events over the past decade using a public health model for delivering hearing health services. Most of those discovered with hearing loss were previously undetected. This session describes the ingredients of the public health model for hearing services, and provides detailed outcomes including a 24% hearing loss prevalence rate for adults with ID (18 to 55 years): 1.4 times greater than worldwide general population studies that will be cited during this presentation. Additional analyses of hearing loss for age decades (18-55 years) for 5713 of the 9961 individuals with ID will be presented. Graphs will illustrate the significant amounts of hearing loss starting in early age decades. These illustrations will show the trend for increased prevalence of hearing loss with each advanced age decade. Especially notable will be the prevalences of hearing loss for the three decades from 20 through 49 years, ranging from 16.8% to 36.1%. A comparison with general non-ID population data for these age decades (Great Britain-1989 and Italy-1996) will be presented, revealing stark differences. People with ID showed losses 3 to 9 times greater depending upon age decade. The hearing status of this very large ID sample provides informative perspectives of hearing care needs of individuals with ID living within their general communities. This information highlights the need for any hearing health initiatives in low-resource countries to include the identification of persons with ID within its efforts, and to use the efficiency and adaptability of the public health service delivery model of hearing care to do so.

• Describe the efficiency and adaptability of a public health model of hearing screening/testing protocol for identifying hearing loss and ear canal conditions of large groups of people with intellectual disabilities (ID)
• Discuss the high prevalence rates of sensorineural/conductive-mixed hearing losses for adults with ID
• Explain the need for annual hearing and ear canal examinations for all adults with ID, along with the need for parents/caregivers/primary healthcare personnel to serve as advocates for such annual examinations and immediate follow-up care as needed

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Gilbert Herer (Primary Presenter), Chapman University, Orange, California, gilbert.herer@verizon.net;
Gilbert R. Herer is Director Emeritus of Children's Hearing and Speech Center, Children's National Medical Center (1964-2001), and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, George Washington University (1976-2010), Washington, DC. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Audiology, Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, College of Health & Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA. Dr. Herer received his bachelor and master of science degrees in communication sciences and disorders from Syracuse University (1953-54); received the University's 1998 Outstanding Alumni Award; and served on its National Alumni Board and its School of Education Board of Visitors. He completed his PhD. degree in Audiology at Northwestern University (1964), and received graduate honors in Audiology while at the University. Dr. Herer is Former President (1989) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; is a Fellow of this national professional society; and was awarded ASHA Honors in 2008. He is also Former President (1977-78) of the Maryland Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Dr. Herer received the Humanitarian of the Year Award (2005) from the American Academy of Audiology. During his professional career at Children’s National Medical Center (Washington, DC), in addition to conducting hearing evaluations of infants and children, Dr. Herer started an array of beneficial programs for children with hearing loss. These endeavors included an early intervention preschool program (1967-73), and one of the first and largest universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) programs in the United States (1996). In 1999, Dr. Herer volunteered at the request of the Special Olympics (SO) international organization to create a hearing screening/testing program for adults with intellectual disabilities participating in SO’s worldwide sports activities. For the following 13 years, he led SO’s Healthy Hearing Program in establishing yearly hearing testing and services in 45 US states and 57 other countries. Dr. Herer became the Founder/Emeritus Senior Global Advisor of the SO Healthy Hearing Program in 2012.