HEARING

LOSS
 HEARING IMPAIRMENT
Hearing refers to the Any loss or abnormality of
reception of sound by the psychological, physiological or
ear, its analysis and its anatomical structure or function
transmission to the brain

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Definition of condition:
￮ Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total
inability to hear.

￮ Disabling hearing loss refers to hearing loss greater than 40dB in the
better hearing ear in adult (15 years or older) and greater than 30dB in
the better hearing ear in children (0-14 years) (WHO,2012).

dB = Decibel (unit to measure of sound level)

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TYPES OF HEARING
IMPAIRMENT
• Conductive
• Sensorineural hearing loss
• Mixed hearing loss
Conductive Hearing Impairment

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Sensorineural Hearing Impairment
￮ A sensorineural loss refers to a problem located in the inner ear or along the nerve
pathway between the inner ear and the brain
￮ Occurs in inner ear (Cochlea)
￮ Often called “Nerve Loss”
￮ Most common: 95% of hearing loss cases
￮ Caused by aging, noise exposure, disease,
heredity

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 Mixed Hearing Loss
￮ A mixed loss refers to a conductive loss and a sensorineural loss
occurring at the same time

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 Categories
￮ Slight hearing loss : 16 – 25dB
￮ Mild hearing loss : 26 – 40dB
￮ Moderate hearing loss : 41 – 55dB
￮ Severe hearing loss : 71 – 90dB
￮ Profound : More than 90dB

(American National Standards Institute)

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 Characteristics
• Lack self confidence
SOCIAL • Good observers

• Poor language

ABILITY • May wear hearing aids

• May need to move around the classroom to get
closer to the sound source
• Difficulty in processing oral information

EMOTIONAL • Isolated person

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 Agin
g

Ilness Heredity

RISK
FACTOR
S

Some Occupational
medication Noises
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 Causes
￮ A gradual buildup of earwax
￮ Ear infection and abnormal bone
growths or tumors
￮ Ruptured eardrum
￮ Damage to the inner ear

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ASSESSMENT TO
CONFIRM
 General Screening Test
￮ Doctor may ask to cover one ear at time to see how well
you hear words spoken at various volumes and you
respond to other sounds

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 Audiometry Test
￮ Conducted by an audiologist
￮ You wear earphones and hear
sounds directed to one ear at a time
￮ The audiologist presents a range of
sounds/words of various tones and
asks you to indicate each time you
hear the sound.

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 Tunning Fork
￮ Tunning forks are two-pronged, metal instruments that produces sound when
struck
￮ A tunning fork evaluation may reveal whether hearing loss caused by damage to
the vibration part of middle ear, damage to sensors or nerve of inner ear or both

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Medication/therapy
￮ Hearing Aids
￮ Hearing Implants
￮ Bone Anchored
￮ Cochlear Implants
￮ Auditory Brainstem Implants
￮ Middle Ear Implants
￮ Follow-up appointments
￮ Sign language and lips reading
￮ Assertive listening device (ALDS)
￮ Remove wax blockage
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Types of teaching/learning materials
that they need
￮ Talk and understand about your students hearing loss
￮ Try to setup your classroom in different ways
￮ Become familiar with different kind of accommodations
￮ Be aware of certain habits or other factors in the environment
￮ Make everything as assessable as possible

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