Valedictory—why pediatric otorhinolaryngology is important

The importance of the care given by the pediatric otolaryngologist to the individual child encompasses the traditional purposes of medicine. This field has its special focus on interventions that preserve, restore, and/or otherwise improve hearing, speech, voice, gustation, olfaction, deglutition, respiration, appearances, etc. The value-added dimension of pediatric otolaryngology is of essential importance because it enhances communication language—through the vehicles of hearing, voice, and speech. This critical role is manifest in two ways. The first relates to the economic bases of society. Comparison of the consequences of communication disorders in three different countries ranging, currently, from one very highly dependent upon communication skills (the Netherlands), to one highly dependent upon communication skills (the United States), to a developing nation less dependent upon communication skills, (the Philippines) is presented. All three nations are adversely affected economically and socially by communication disorders. It is estimated that the United States loses between 2.5% and 3% of its gross domestic product from the economic sequelae of communication disorders. It appears also that communication disorders contribute to crime, since the prevalence of communication disorders is many times greater in populations of juvenile delinquents than in the general population. Communication disorders may act synergistically with diminished economic and social resources and other factors in the causes of violent behavior and crime.