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Statistics and Human Communication

Statistics are available on:

Basics. The branch of medical science that investigates all the factors that determine the presence or absence of disease is called epidemiology. Epidemiologists study the incidence, or the number of new cases of a disease in a population over a period of time, and prevalence, the number of existing cases of a disease in a population at a given time. Cost-of-illness or burden-of-disease are two measures of the economic and social impact of diseases in a population.

Challenges. Statistical and epidemiological data on diseases and disorders of human communication are limited.

  • Much of the data, as they deal with human sensory experience, are based on self-report rather than on objective data. This might mean that individual interpretation of the question or self-estimates of, for example, hearing loss may be an under- or overrepresentation.

  • Some of the data are based upon household survey data where one individual will describe the other members of the household, rather than having, for example, an audiometric test of each individual. Many estimates are based upon comparisons across time that may have variability in the definitions of or what is included in clustered terms like hearing loss or speech disorder.

  • Another difficulty is that the scientists may not agree on the best way to measure a particular disorder.

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