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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program, we explore deaf culture in America.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
More than three hundred million people live in the United States. By some estimates, about one million of them are deaf and almost ten million are hard of hearing.
A few years ago, Gallaudet University researcher Ross Mitchell wrote a paper about these estimates from findings by the Census Bureau. The estimates suggest that less than one in twenty Americans is deaf or hard of hearing.
But as he pointed out, these findings are limited to people who report difficulty hearing normal conversation. They do not include the larger population of people with hearing loss who have difficulty hearing other sounds.
VOICE TWO:
Some loss of hearing is normal as people age. More than half the people with hearing loss or deafness are sixty-five or older. Less than four percent are under eighteen. But many things can cause hearing loss, including a head injury or noises like gunfire or loud music. In some cases, unless they have a hearing test, people may not recognize the damage until later in life.
Some people have become deaf after taking powerful antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs. Cancer drugs can also sometimes damage hearing.
The same is true with infections. Meningitis is the most common cause of hearing loss among children in the United States.
And deafness can be genetic. One genetic cause of hearing loss is a nervous system disorder called neurofibromatosis. Growths develop on nerves, especially those in the ear.
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