§ Mr. Alfred Morris
As at 31st March, 1975, the number of people aged 16 and over in England registered as deaf and as having a lesser hearing impairment was 22,609 and 19,391 respectively. Registration is voluntary, and the figures represent only a very small proportion of those with hearing impairment. There are no accurate figures of prevalence, but such information as is available suggests that the total number of people registered is of the order of 3 per cent. of all hearing impaired people in the population. It is not possible to estimate the proportion of hearing impaired people who are sufficiently impaired to justify registration. Most of the hearing impaired population are elderly and a proportion will be registered on account of other disabilities.