Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which
covers many everyday social and practical skills. Regardless of those limitations of people with intellectual disabilities, the first International
Special Olympics Summer Games were held in July 1968, resulting from various movements for their equality and human right,
and their social adaptation. Now, Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities,
providing year-round training and competitions to 5.7 million athletes and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries including
Korea. In particular, during the Olympic game, health athletes, which offers health screenings to athletes as need in seven areas: Fit Feet
(podiatry), FUN fitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (better health and well-being), Healthy Hearing (audiology), MedFest (sports
physical exam), Opening Eyes (vision), and Special Smiles (dentistry). Among them, the Healthy Hearing program includes otoscopy,
otoacoustic emission, tympanometry, pure-tone screening, and pure-tone threshold tests, to inform hearing status and additional management
for the athletes. This brief communication presents history and principle of Special Olympics including its development in Korea.
Also it offers useful information for the athletes participating in the Special Olympics, who have intellectual disability, to understand
them, while reporting brief outcomes of healthy hearing program of the Special Olympic Korea held in Inje, Gangwon. In final part of
this brief communication, we scrutinize hearing status of people with intellectual disabilities who live in Inje, Gangwon in terms of local
healthcare. In closing, we request professional attention and care to them as audiology and speech-language specialists as well as
readers of Audiology and Speech Research.