A. Primary prevention: The focus of primary prevention is to keep a disease, disorder, or disability from occurring. Successful primary prevention efforts reduce the number of new cases of a disorder or disease, that is, incidence (example: prevention of traumatic brain injury through the use of bicycle helmets and seatbelts.)

B. Secondary prevention: Early identification and preventive intervention of a disease, disorder, or disability; decreasing the prevalence of a condition (example: universal newborn hearing screenings identifying hearing loss at an early age).

C. Tertiary prevention: Attempt to decrease the severity or impact of a disability associated with an existing disorder or disease, to restore and improve effective functioning of a disability. This is the traditional domain for audiologists and speech-language pathologists… (example: treating a swallowing disorder to improve the ability to swallow).