Objectives. (1) Provide regional governments, institutions, and professionals with local and accurate information on the prevalence of ear and hearing disorders in the Ecuadorian population. (2) Contribute to the global burden of disease by generating standardized data that can be compared among countries and regions. Method. This was a prospective multistage cluster sample design study. Population tested included all members of households selected according to the sample strategy (cluster sample design). Testing was carried out in hospital facilities across the country including audiometry/TEAOEs and otological examination. Results. 5762 subjects were tested, with a global prevalence of hearing disability of 5% with a 95% CI of 3.9% a 6.1%. Out of the total population tested 14.52% are in need of action or services. Conclusions. The prevalence of disablility in hearing correlates with the prevalence found in other studies using the same protocol. The Ecuadorian population is in need of a substantial improvement in hearing services delivery. 1. Introduction 1.1. Global Overview of Ear and Hearing Disorders Ear disease and hearing impairment are a neglected public health problem in developing countries in the infant and adult populations. According to the measure Year Lived with Disability (YLD) global estimation for 2005 (see Table 1, [1]), hearing loss of adult onset represents the second highest percentage of contributors to the total YLD. Congenital and child-onset hearing loss are also a concern as many of the risk factors can be identified in people from a low socioeconomic background, such as low birth weight, overcrowding, lack of hygiene, and respiratory tract infections, among others. The WHO (World Health Organization) [2, 3] emphasizes three particular facts about hearing loss to support action in this field:(1)80% of deaf and hearing impaired people live in low-middle income countries,(2)1 of 40 people who would benefit from a hearing aid have one,(3)50% of deafness and hearing impairment are avoidable through prevention, early diagnosis, and management. Table 1: The leading causes of YLD: global estimates for 2005 [ 1]. A recent literature review [4] searched 3000 studies done since 1980 from around the world. Of these, 108 were selected for detailed review but only 31 met the following criteria for inclusion:(i)searched restricted articles published on or after 1980,(ii)reported prevalence from cross-sectional surveys of representative populations of a country or area of a country,(iii)results for “persons” and not only for “number or
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