WASHINGTON – The Senate has passed a resolution introduced by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., calling for congressional support of National Better Hearing and Speech Month.

Hearing loss is the most common birth defect in the United States. Only 65 percent of newborns, however, are screened for hearing loss before they are 1 month old. Only 56 percent of the babies that are screened receive diagnostic evaluations necessary for treatment by the time they are 3 months old.

“Children who suffer from speech impairments often suffer in school,” said Collins. “They are four or five times more likely to have reading difficulties. A little over half of the children diagnosed with hearing loss are actually enrolled in early intervention programs, which is unfortunate, because these children often resurface in special education programs in their school years.”

Special education and its high costs can be avoided with early detection and intervention.

“This is why it is essential to raise the awareness of hearing and speech impairments and health on behalf of the millions of men, women and children who manage these impediments every day,” Collins said. For the past 75 years, May traditionally has been observed as National Hearing and Speech Month.