Quick Facts

Did you know:

• 1 in every 1000 children are born with a severe to profound hearing loss and about 5 in every 1000 children with a lesser degree hearing loss. This makes deafness the most common congenital birth defect.
• In Singapore around 160 children are born with hearing loss every year. This figure excludes many more with acquired hearing loss.
• 1 out of 11 people in the general Singapore population are hearing-impaired and age-related hearing loss is so common that about 50% of the population is expected to have significant hearing loss by 80 years of age (“Universal Newborn Hearing Screening in Singapore: The Need, Implementation and Challenges” WK Low et al, Annals Academy of Medicine 2005).
• The auditory (hearing) system is mature at birth. Children with typical hearing begin to learn language as soon as they are born and are most receptive to learning language during the first 12 to 18 months of life.
• 90% of babies who are born with atypical hearing have parents with ‘typical’ hearing.
• Infants with atypical hearing that are enrolled in appropriate early intervention services by 6 months of age are likely to have normal language and cognitive development.