Hearing Loss, Deafness, and the Hard-of-Hearing

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) encourages all family physicians to become knowledgeable about prevention, evaluation and treatment of deafness and hearing loss in patients of all ages. The AAFP recommends the following:

• Counsel patients to prevent all forms of hearing loss.
• Refer patients who are deaf and hard-of-hearing for hearing assistive devices and hearing-ear dogs, if desired.
• Ask patients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing their preferred method of communication at the time of registration as well as during the appointment.
• Provide American Sign Language (ASL)-fluent interpreters experienced in medical interpretation to ensure clear and complete communication. 
• Provide a means of booking appointments and accessing private health information through appropriate language assistance and accommodations.
• Provide visual aids and online resources to facilitate patient education.

(1988) (October 2023 COD)