The Congressional Hearing Health Caucus (Caucus), a caucus of the United States Congress, was created in 2001[1] in cooperation with the National Campaign for Hearing Health, a public education and advocacy project run by the Deafness Research Foundation (now called the Hearing Health Foundation.) The focus of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus includes several aims that promote hearing health and encourage universal newborn hearing health screenings for all Americans. Those most at risk for hearing-related concerns are newborns, infants, and the elderly, particularly if such issues are left undetected. Therefore, a primary goal of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus is to see that auditory abilities of all Americans are screened, including universal hearing screening for newborns. One of the co-founders and co-chairmen of the Caucus was former Congress Member James T. Walsh[2] (R-NY). The Director of the National Campaign for Hearing Health at the time of launch of the CHHC, was Elizabeth Thorp, who had herself been born with unilateral deafness not discovered until she was eight years old.[3]
Current co-chairs of the Committee are David McKinley (R-WV) and Mike Thompson (D-CA).[4]