How Many Deaf People Are There in the United States? Estimates From the Survey of Income and Program Participation

• Published in: Journal of deaf studies and deaf education 2006, Vol.11 (1), p.112-119
• Main Author: Mitchell, Ross E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Age groups; Aged; Assistive Technology; Biological and medical sciences; Censuses; Children; Correction of Hearing Impairment - statistics & numerical data; Data Collection; Deafness; Deafness - epidemiology; Demography; Disabilities; Ear, auditive nerve, cochleovestibular tract, facial nerve: diseases, semeiology; Endnotes; Female; Group Membership; Hard of Hearing; Health care statistics; Health surveys; Hearing aids; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss - epidemiology; Humans; Income - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medical sciences; Mental health; Middle Aged; National Surveys; Non tumoral diseases; Oral Language; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Partial Hearing; Persons With Hearing Impairments - rehabilitation; Persons With Hearing Impairments - statistics & numerical data; Polls & surveys; Population Groups; Prevention. Health policy. Planification; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social Mobility; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Social Services; State Surveys; Statistics; United States; United States - epidemiology
• ISSN: 1081-4159; 1465-7325
• DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enj004

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is one of a few national surveys that regularly collects data identifying the American population of persons with hearing loss or deafness. Estimates from the SIPP indicate that fewer than 1 in 20 Americans are currently deaf or hard of hearing. In round numbers, nearly 10,000,000 persons are hard of hearing and close to 1,000,000 are functionally deaf. More than half of all persons with hearing loss or deafness are 65 years or older and less than 4% are under 18 years of age. However, these findings are limited to those who report difficulty hearing "normal conversation" and do not include the larger population of persons with hearing loss for which only hearing outside the range and circumstances of normal conversation is affected. Policy makers, communications technology manufacturers, health and education service providers, researchers, and advocacy organizations have an interest in these results.