Levels of Deafness.

 

Would you believe that there is nearly 15% of the population that have some level of deafness?

 

So to put this into basic figures; if you imagine 10,000 people stood in a big field with you then:

 

10 of those people will have been born profoundly deaf. Persons with profound loss (95dB or more) usually do not have the ability to develop a good level of speech due to the fact that they do not have sufficient hearing. Voices can not be heard but the sound of a loud road drill or maybe loud music through speakers might be heard if they are close by. People who have a profound level of hearing loss usually get little or no benefit from Hearing Aids and mainly use Sign Language as their first or preferred language to communicate. 

 

20 of those people in that field will have become profoundly deaf. The term “Deafened is used to describe people who grew up hearing then in early to late adult hood suddenly became deaf. People who are deafened usually continue to communicate with voice and learn to lip-read or write things down. This is because they have grown up a hearing person and will usually continue to communicate as though a hearing person. Some people who have become deafened like to learn Sign Language as it is sometimes easier than lip-reading, or they may learn it to help “fit in” to the deaf world.

 

100 of those people will have a severe level of deafness. A person with a severe loss (70dB) may be able to hear voices if they are loud and close with the use of hearings aids for example however, they may still have difficulty following what is being said, even with the use of hearing aids. People with a severe level of deaf ness will usually just communicate via voice and they will lip-read. Some do use sign language as well.

 

600 of those people will be hard of hearing which means they will have a moderate level of hearing loss (40 – 68dB). A person with this level of hearing loss will be able to follow what is being said with a hearing aid and will be able to use a telephone if it has an adjustable volume or has been designed to be used with a hearing aid. Their speech may possible be affected but very minimal if affected.  

 

800 of those people will be mildly hard of hearing. A person with a mild loss (25 – 39dB) will be able to hear background noises and would be most likely to understand a face to face conversation. Although a one to one conversation will not pose them any difficulties, they may have difficulty following conversations in large groups, noisy situations or where there are a lot of people speaking at once. Many people with a mild level of hearing loss will wear hearing aids and find them very beneficial and some also to some extent lip-read.

 

• For about 70-90,000 people in the UK, British Sign Language (BSL) is used as their first or preferred language.

 

• About 2 million people in Britain wear hearing aids, and possibly another million would benefit having them.

 

• Almost all deaf and hard of hearing people rely on lip-reading to some extent.

 

“Being deaf is about experiencing the world visually"

 

For information about causes of deafness click the above picture	For information about Technical Aids and Equipment available to Deaf people, click the above the picture	For information about Interpreters, how to book, how to work with them and their role, click the above picture.