Hearing Loss in Children Public Health Cycle The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) work with hearing loss is
carried out within a three-stage public health cycle of
tracking; research; intervention and prevention; in each of
which CDC has been and continues to be a leader. CDC’s
activities in the area of hearing loss provide a good example of
the public health cycle in action. Tracking (also called
surveillance) is a powerful tool used to determine who among the
general population has a particular condition or disability and
how many such individuals are affected. Tracking also is used to
find changes among these groups over time. While the findings of
the tracking studies that we at CDC conduct often identify
research questions to pursue, results from these efforts also
can directly inform intervention and prevention strategies.
These studies tell CDC who might be more at risk for developing
a condition or what might make someone less likely to have it.
When we understand who is at risk or w