Deafness Research Foundation

Deafness Research Foundation attended the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center and was the proud sponsor of the Research Symposium: An Update on the Latest Hair Cell Regeneration Research.

For more than 50 years, DRF has worked to make hearing health possible for everyone through quality research and education. As the leading national source of private funding for research, our grants have resulted in treatments for hearing and balance related conditions helping those living with hearing loss and protecting those at risk.

Over 37 million adults and over 1 million children in the United States suffer from some degree of hearing loss. Of adults who suffer from hearing loss approximately:

* 55% are male
* 45% are female
* 8.4 million are between the ages of 18 – 44 years
* 14.3 million are between the ages of 45 – 64 years
* 6 million are between the ages of 65 – 74 years
* 8.3 million are 75 years and over

These numbers are increasing every year due to aging baby boomers (ages 41-59) and Generation Xers (ages 29-40).

In addition to being the leading national source of private funding for research in hearing and balance science, DRF also publishes Hearing Health magazine. Our publication has a circulation of approximately 30,000 and recently won an APEX 2008 Award of Excellence for Magazine & Journal Writing. This valuable consumer resource provides information on technology, treatment, research and issues affecting people with hearing loss.