The Defense Health Agency's Hearing Center of Excellence works to improve hearing and balance health.

Our Goals

• Improve hearing health
• Enhance operational performance
• Optimize readiness
• Enhance service members and veterans quality of life

We work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to achieve our goals in partnership with:

• Federal health care organizations
• Universities
• Public and private institutions

Congressional Mandate

The HCE was created by Congress through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 to address military hearing injuries. This work includes:

• Prevention
• Diagnosis
• Mitigation
• Treatment
• Rehabilitation
• Research

Our primary focus and responsibilities include:

• Developing a data registry to track military hearing loss and auditory injuries
• Encouraging and facilitating hearing health research
• Developing best practices and clinical education
• Promoting and implementing hearing loss prevention strategies

Our Structure

We're a branch of the DHA Research and Engineering Directorate. We're led by a branch chief and deputy branch chief. We have service audiology liaisons from the Army, Navy, and Air Force. They connect HCE to the field to address operational needs and problems.