Hearing Impaired
Hearing is one of the major senses and like vision is important for distant warning and communication. It can be used to alert, to communicate pleasure and fear. It is a conscious appreciation of vibration perceived as sound. In order to do this, the appropriate signal must reach the higher parts of the brain.
Hearing impairment - A reduction in the ability to perceive sound; may range from slight inability to complete deafness
HI- it is a distinction between deaf and hard of hearing. Deaf means not being able to hear sound or above certain intensity (sound) level. Hard of hearing means being able to hear
Hearing sensitivity is measured in a decibel which means the units of relative loudness of sounds.
Zero decibels (0 db)- average person with normal hearing can detect the faintest sound. Each succeeding number of decibels that a person cannot detect indicates a certain degree of hearing impairment.
Professionals:
Congenitally deaf (born deaf) Adventitiously deaf (acquire deafness at some time after birth) Other two terms used: prelingual deafness (deafness occurs at birth or early in life before speech and language develop) Postlingual deafness (occurs after the development of speech and language)
Some professional classify according to hearing threshold levels.
Mild (26 – 40 dB) Moderate (41 – 55 dB) Moderate – severe (56 -70 dB) Severe (71 – 90 dB) Profound (91 dB and above)
PREVALENCE
Over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing loss (328 million adults and 32 million children).
Disabling hearing loss refers to hearing loss greater than 40dB in the better hearing ear in adults and a hearing loss greater than 30dB in the better hearing ear in children. The majority of these people live in low- and middle-income countries.
Approximately one-third of people over 65 years of age are affected by disabling hearing loss. The prevalence in this age group is greatest in South
Hearing impairment - A reduction in the ability to perceive sound; may range from slight inability to complete deafness
HI- it is a distinction between deaf and hard of hearing. Deaf means not being able to hear sound or above certain intensity (sound) level. Hard of hearing means being able to hear
Hearing sensitivity is measured in a decibel which means the units of relative loudness of sounds.
Zero decibels (0 db)- average person with normal hearing can detect the faintest sound. Each succeeding number of decibels that a person cannot detect indicates a certain degree of hearing impairment.
Professionals:
Congenitally deaf (born deaf) Adventitiously deaf (acquire deafness at some time after birth) Other two terms used: prelingual deafness (deafness occurs at birth or early in life before speech and language develop) Postlingual deafness (occurs after the development of speech and language)
Some professional classify according to hearing threshold levels.
Mild (26 – 40 dB) Moderate (41 – 55 dB) Moderate – severe (56 -70 dB) Severe (71 – 90 dB) Profound (91 dB and above)
PREVALENCE
Over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing loss (328 million adults and 32 million children).
Disabling hearing loss refers to hearing loss greater than 40dB in the better hearing ear in adults and a hearing loss greater than 30dB in the better hearing ear in children. The majority of these people live in low- and middle-income countries.
Approximately one-third of people over 65 years of age are affected by disabling hearing loss. The prevalence in this age group is greatest in South