Hard of hearing and deafness facts

How is deafness measured?

This is generally measured by testing how well a person can hear very quiet sounds with different frequencies; the person will be given a handheld device with a button to press as soon as they can hear the sound. This level is called the threshold and it is measured in decibels, people who can hear frequencies in the 0 to 20 db are said to have perfect hearing with greater thresholds gradually worsening in hearing.

What does the term deafened mean?

This term is used to describe people who were not born deaf but became deaf later in life due to many reasons such as trauma to the head or ear, medication or infection.

How does age affect the hearing?

Almost all people will lose hearing to some extent as they get older, this is a natural occurrence and the hearing will generally decline from around the age of 60.

Can all deaf people lip-read?

Deaf people can’t automatically lip read just because of their deafness but most people who are deaf and are hard of hearing do pick lip reading up as a way to help them communicate. In fact most of us to some extent can lip-read. The majority of us will have at some time or another been in a noisy situation and watched the person’s mouth and facial expressions to help us understand what is being said.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a very common form of problem with the hearing and millions of people suffer from it in some form, tinnitus is described as a ringing, whooshing, buzzing or some similar noise either heard in one or both ears or in the head. Some people will get tinnitus when they have a head cold or ear infection and this will usually clear once the infection has been treated, others have to live with it permanently as there is no cure for tinnitus.

What is mild deafness?

People are termed mildly deaf when they have problems hearing at frequencies of around 25 to 40 db, moderate loss is around 40 to 70 db and hearing loss is classed as severe when the hearing loss is around 70 to 95 db.

What does the term deaf blind mean?

People who are blind as well as deaf are termed deaf blind, some people are totally deaf and blind while some can have a slight hearing loss and be totally blind or have a mixture of hearing and sight.

Are both men and women are affected equally by hearing problems?

A higher proportion of men over the age of 40 are affected by hearing loss, the reason for this isn’t quite clear but it could be due to the fact that men more than women work in noisy industrial environments. However more women over the age of 80 are deaf or suffer from hard of hearing, this is because women usually live longer than men.