Degree of Loss
MILD: range of loss falls between 26 to 40dB
- Depending upon the contour of the hearing levels a person may have no problem understanding speech in quiet, in background noise or in unfavorable acoustical environments speech may be difficult to understand.
MODERATE: range of loss falls between 41 to 55dB
- This degree of hearing loss will generally cause some degree of difficulty hearing speech in most situations
- Understanding the content of speech will be difficult when speech occurs more than four or five feet away, especially when the person is not facing the speaker
- Any amount of noise will greatly interfere with speech understanding
MODERATELY-SEVERE TO SEVERE: range of loss 56 to 90 dB
- Language skills are greatly affected
- Will hear vowel sounds, but not most consonant sounds
- Understanding speech is difficult in most situations
- Needs a hearing aid or assistive listening device
- Visual cues are usually necessary even when wearing a hearing aid
PROFOUND: Range of loss above 91dB
- This degree of hearing loss will afford a very limited sense of sound awareness & limits the ability to use sound for communication
- The person will require visual cues and proximity to the speaker
- Usually someone with a profound hearing loss does not gain significant benefit from a hearing aid.
- Frequently augmentative communication strategies are required (ASL)
