The sounds of children laughing, music playing, whistles blowing or horns honking are sounds of everyday life for those of us who are not deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH). And it’s hard to imagine life without those familiar sounds. Twenty-eight million people, roughly the total populations of Florida and Pennsylvania combined, have some degree of reduced hearing and of that number, 80 percent have irreversible hearing loss. Moreover, one in ten Americans has a hearing loss that affects their ability to understand speech, and the worldwide statistics are even more astonishing. We take for granted the ability to hear and are amazed by people who are D/HH yet live full lives – often in silence. You will read in this issue about a deaf sailor who journeyed nine months and nearly 29,000 nautical miles alone at sea. His story and the story of Pamela Jackson, a paramedic who is hard of hearing, also featured in this issue, are truly remarkable. These individuals inspire all of us to overcome odds and achieve our greatest potential. Read on to discover how advancements in hearing health research may one day make such stories obsolete. While we are a long way from curing hearing loss and deafness, cutting-edge research, such as the study of stem cells covered in this issue, offers hope and promise to one day make hearing a reality for everyone. The primary mission of Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) is to support some of the best and brightest researchers in the field of hearing health. Our goal at Hearing Health magazine is to keep you informed of the latest discoveries that donations from you and others help make possible. |
