The loss of hearing - be it gradual or acute, mild or severe, present since birth or acquired in older age - can have significant effects on one's communication abilities, quality of life, social participation, and health. Despite this, many people with hearing loss do not seek or receive hearing health care. The reasons are numerous, complex, and often interconnected. For some, hearing health care is not affordable. For others, the appropriate services are difficult to access, or individuals do not know how or where to access them. Others may not want to deal with the stigma that they and society may associate with needing hearing health care and obtaining that care. Still others do not recognize they need hearing health care, as hearing loss is an invisible health condition that often worsens gradually over time. In the United States, an estimated 30 million individuals (12.7 percent of Americans ages 12 years or older) have hearing loss. Globally, hearing loss has been identified as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability. Successful hearing health care enables individuals with hearing loss to have the freedom to communicate in their environments in ways that are culturally appropriate and that preserve their dignity and function. Hearing Health Care for Adults focuses on improving the accessibility and affordability of hearing health care for adults of all ages. This study examines the hearing health care system, with a focus on non-surgical technologies and services, and offers recommendations for improving access to, the affordability of, and the quality of hearing health care for adults of all ages.

Millions of Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates programs that provide cash disability benefits to people with permanent impairments like hearing loss, if they can show that their impairments meet stringent SSA criteria and their earnings are below an SSA threshold. The National Research Council convened an expert committee at the request of the SSA to study the issues related to disability determination for people with hearing loss. This volume is the product of that study. Hearing Loss: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits reviews current knowledge about hearing loss and its measurement and treatment, and provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and criteria. It recommends changes to strengthen the disability determination process and ensure its reliability and fairness. The book addresses criteria for selection of pure tone and speech tests, guidelines for test administration, testing of hearing in noise, special issues related to testing children, and the difficulty of predicting work capacity from clinical hearing test results. It should be useful to audiologists, otolaryngologists, disability advocates, and others who are concerned with people who have hearing loss.

Includes section, "Recent book acquisitions" (varies: Recent United States publications) formerly published separately by the U.S. Army Medical Library.

Medical-Legal Evaluation of Hearing Loss, Third Edition includes the most accurate and current developments in the field with more than 250 new references. A comprehensive guide on hearing loss and the law, it examines claims, court cases, and the evolution of hearing conservation. This text addresses age-related hearing loss, genetics of hearing loss, and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) - with a newly revised international standard (ISO-1999, 2013) that presents a comprehensive predictive model for NIHL, critical in medical-legal evaluation. Also examined is hearing loss due to toxins, trauma, and disease, as well as the effects of cardiovascular risk factors, race, and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, included tutorial discussions of acoustics, hearing, and hearing testing will be valuable to attorneys and other nonclinicians. New or expanded topics include: The relationship of hearing loss to brain disordersJob fitnessAccommodations under the Americans with Disabilities ActBlast injuryRecreational music and hearing lossHypothesis of progressive NIHL after noise cessationSolvent ototoxicityAppropriate exchange rate for predicting noise hazardThe American Medical Association’s method of measurement of hearing disability This new edition provides practical guidance for expert witnesses and legal practitioners and is essential for otolaryngologists, audiologists, occupational physicians, attorneys handling hearing loss claims, and claims management professionals.