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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health

Quick Statistics About Voice, Speech, Language

Voice, Speech, Language, and Swallowing

  • Nearly 1 in 12 (7.7%) U.S. children ages 3-17 has had a disorder related to voice, speech, language, or swallowing in the past 12 months.1
  • Among children who have a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder, 34% of those ages 3-10 have multiple communication or swallowing disorders, while 25.4% of those ages 11-17 have multiple disorders.1
  • Boys ages 3-17 are more likely than girls to have a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder (9.6% compared to 5.7%).1
  • The prevalence of voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorders is highest among children ages 3-6 (11.0%), compared to children ages 7-10 (9.3%), and children ages 11-17 (4.9%).1
  • Nearly 1 in 10, or 9.6%, of Black children (ages 3-17) has a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder, compared to 7.8% of White children and 6.9% of Hispanic children.1
  • More than half (55.2%) of U.S. children ages 3-17 with a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder received intervention services in the past year.1 White children (ages 3-17) with a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder are more likely to have received intervention services in the past 12 months, compared to Hispanic and Black children, at 60.1%, 47.3%, and 45.8% respectively.1
  • Boys (ages 3-17) with a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder are more likely than girls to receive intervention services, at 59.4% and 47.8%, respectively.1
  • Among children ages 3-17 who have a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder, those with speech or language problems, 67.6% and 66.8% respectively, are more likely to receive intervention services, compared to those who have a voice disorder (22.8%) or swallowing problems (12.7%).1

Voice

  • An estimated 17.9 million U.S. adults ages 18 or older, or 7.6%, report having had a problem with their voice in the past 12 months.3,4 Approximately 9.4 million (4.0%) adults report having a problem using their voice that lasted 1 week or longer during the last 12 months.2
  • 1.4% of U.S. children have a voice disorder that lasted for a week or longer during the past 12 months.1
  • Spasmodic dysphonia, a voice disorder caused by involuntary movements of one or more muscles of the larynx (voice box), can affect anyone. The first signs of this disorder are found most often in people ages 30-50. More women than men appear to be affected.5

Speech

  • 5% of U.S. children ages 3-17 have a speech disorder that lasted for a week or longer during the past 12 months.1
  • The prevalence of speech sound disorders (namely, articulation disorders or phonological disorders) in young children is 8 to 9%. By the first grade, roughly 5% of children have noticeable speech disorders, including stuttering, speech sound disorders, and dysarthria; the majority of these speech disorders have no known cause.6,7
  • More than 3 million Americans (about 1%) stutter. Stuttering can affect individuals of all ages but occurs most frequently in young children between the ages of 2 and 6. Boys are two to three times more likely than girls to stutter. Although most children who stutter outgrow the condition while young, as many as 1 in 4 will continue to stutter for the rest of their lives, a condition known as persistent developmental stuttering.8,9

Language

  • Developmental language disorder (also called specific language impairment) has a prevalence of 7% or approximately 1 in 14 children.10,11
  • Approximately 2% of children with a language disorder also have an existing medical condition (e.g., autism, intellectual disability).11
  • 3.3% of U.S. children ages 3-17 have a language disorder that lasted for a week or longer during the past 12 months.1
  • Research suggests that the first 6 months of life are the most crucial to a child’s development of language skills. For a person to become fully competent in any language, exposure must begin as early as possible, preferably before school age.12,13
  • Anyone can acquire aphasia (a loss of the ability to use or understand language), but most people who have aphasia are in their middle to late years. Men and women are equally affected. Nearly 180,000 Americans acquire the disorder each year.14 About 2 million people in the United States currently have aphasia.14

Swallowing

  • 0.9% of U.S. children ages 3-17 have a swallowing disorder that lasted for a week or longer during the past 12 months.1

Sources

  1. Black, LI; Vahratian, A; Hoffman, HJ (2015): Communication disorders and use of intervention services among children aged 3–17 years: United States, 2012. NCHS data brief. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Jun:(205):1-8.
  2. Hoffman, HJ, Li, C-M; Losonczy, K; Chiu, MS, Lucas, JB; St. Louis, KO (2014): Voice, speech, and language disorders in the U.S. population: The 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Abstract No. 648. Abstracts of the 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research. June 24-27, 2014, Seattle, WA; p. 156.
  3. Bhattacharyya, N (2014): The prevalence of voice problems among adults in the United States. Laryngoscope. Oct;124(10):2359-62. doi: 10.1002/lary.24740.
  4. Moris, MA; Meier, SK; Griffin, JM; Branda, ME; Phelan, SM (2016): Prevalence and etiologies of adult communication disabilities in the United States: Results of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Brief Report. Disabil Health J. Jan;9(1):140-4.doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2015.07.004. 
  5. Schweinfurth, JM; Billante, M; Courey, MS (2002): Risk factors and demographics in patients with spasmodic dysphonia. Laryngoscope. Feb;112(2):220-3. doi: 10.1097/00005537-200202000-00004.
  6. Shriberg, LD; Tomblin, JB; McSweeny, JL (1999): Prevalence of speech delay in 6-year-old children and comorbidity with language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res. Dec;42(6):1461-81. doi: 10.1044/jslhr.4206.1461.
  7. Law, J; Boyle, J; Harris, F; Harkness, A; Nye, C (2000): Prevalence and natural history of primary speech and language delay: findings from a systematic review of the literature. Int J Lang Commun Disord. Apr-Jun;35(2):165-88. doi: 10.1080/136828200247133.
  8. Yairi, E; Ambrose, N (2013): Epidemiology of stuttering: 21st century advances. J Fluency Disord. Jun;38(2):66-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2012.11.002.
  9. Boyle, CA; Boulet, S; Schieve, LA; Cohen, RA; Blumberg, SJ; Yeargin-Allsopp, M; Visser, S; Kogan, MD (2011): Trends in the prevalence of developmental disabilities in US children, 1997–2008. Pediatrics. Jun;127(6):1034-42. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-2989.
  10. Tomblin, JB; Records, NL; Buckwalter, P; Zhang, X; Smith, E; O'Brien, M (1997): Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. J Speech Lang Hear Res. Dec;40(6):1245-60. doi: 10.1044/jslhr.4006.1245.
  11. Norbury, CF; Gooch, D; Wray, C; Baird, G; Charman, T; Simonoff, E; Vamvakas, G; Pickles, A (2016): The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder: evidence from a population study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. Nov;57(11):1247-1257. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12573. 
  12. Kuhl, PK (1994): Learning and representation in speech and language. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 
    Dec;4(6):812-22. doi: 10.1016/0959-4388(94)90128-7.
  13. Yeung, H; Werker, JF (2009): Learning words’ sounds before learning how words sound: 9-month-olds use distinct objects as cues to categorize speech information. Cognition. Nov;113(2):234-43. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.010.
  14. National Aphasia Association. Aphasia FAQs. Accessed 2/6/2024.
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