Key Takeaways:
- Hearing loss affects millions of Americans; however, some common words or phrases related to hearing loss are misunderstood.
- The Deaf community uses sign language as their primary means of communication.
- The term 'deaf' can be confusing, as hearing loss can be present at vary degrees: from mild to profound.
- Hearing loss can come from different parts of the ear, with the most common type from the inner ear (called sensorineural hearing loss).
Hearing loss is the 3rd most common chronic physical condition in the U.S., but it receives a shockingly low level of attention in media and culture. As a result, terminology on the topic isn't widely known.
We worked with cochlear implant wearer, Juliet England, to compile a list of important and often misunderstood, deaf and hard of hearing related terms.
We've broken this list of terms into five categories to simplify things. Jump straight to the category you are interested in or start scrolling for the full guide.
- Deaf vs. deaf and other community-related terms
- Out of date terms to avoid
- Terms that describe the various types of hearing loss
- Audiograms, hearing aid styles, and other terms you might hear if you are seeking treatment
- Inner-ear, ossicles, and other hearing anatomy terms you might hear
Let’s start with some important terms that describe the community
The way we talk about groups and their identities matters, but it can also be confusing. Here are a few terms to know:
Deaf vs. deaf
The word 'deaf' describes someone with a significant hearing difficulty.
Those who are Deaf with a capital D identify with a shared culture, and sign language is usually their first language. There is a proud cultural association with deafness.
This YouTube video from Deaf creator Rogan Shannon offers some helpful context.
There are four levels of deafness and hearing loss as described by professionals.
- Mild deafness or mild hearing loss: The person begins hearing sound at 25-29 decibels (dB). They may find it difficult to follow speech at a distance or in background noise.
- Moderate deafness or moderate hearing impairment: Someone with moderate deafness can detect sounds between 40 and 69 dB. Following a conversation without lip reading, ASL, or a hearing aid becomes difficult.
- Severe deafness or severe hearing loss: Someone with severe deafness can hear at around 70 to 89 dB. Even with a hearing aid, a severely deaf person uses lip-read, sign language, and captions.
- Profound deafness: Anybody who cannot hear a sound below 90dB has profound deafness. Someone in this category may have minimal residual hearing and will likely not hear speech, even with hearing aids.
Deafened
This term describes someone who loses their hearing, often suddenly, sometimes after an injury or illness.
Hard of Hearing (HOH)
Hard of hearing individuals can have a range of hearing loss from mild to severe; some hearing capability is still present in these people.
Some out-of-date terms to avoid.
A number of terms are now considered out of date, and even offensive to some deaf and hard of hearing people. These include:
- Deaf and dumb/deaf mute
- Hearing impaired – often, this is a very generalized term that takes no account of different types of deafness
- Some Deaf people don’t like ‘hearing loss’ as they don’t feel they have ‘lost’ anything
Here are a few important terms about accessible communication.
Communication expands far beyond the spoken word. These are some of the terms that describe alternate forms:
American Sign Language (ASL)
The visual language of deaf communities across the US and most of English-speaking Canada. A complete language that is expressed via facial expression plus hand movements.
British Sign Language (BSL)
Used across the UK, although with regional ‘dialects’, this is the visual or sign language of Britain’s deaf community. It is not related to any of the UK’s spoken languages, and estimates suggest that on any day up to 250,000 use it. BSL is the first language of up to 70,000 people. It has its own grammatical structure and syntax.
Lipreading
Also called speechreading, this is a way of understanding speech from studying a speaker’s lip, face and tongue movements. It’s often combined with knowledge of context, language, and residual hearing. It’s possible to improve this skill via tutored classes.
Lipspeaking
Lipspeakers reproduce clearly the shapes of the words and the natural rhythm and stress the speaker uses. They also use facial expressions, gesture and, if needed, fingerspelling.
Fingerspelling
Fingerspelling is a way of spelling out words using hand movements. It’s used to express the names of people and places, for example – i.e. words for which there is no sign.
Subtitles
Subtitles reproduce the spoken words of a film or TV show in text across the bottom of the screen. Not to be confused with captioning of live events such as plays. Captions also describe background sounds and music.
Interpreter/interpretation
Sign language is interpreted – not translated. A hearing interpreter with a high level of sign language relays spoken words to a deaf person as sign language, or a deaf person’s sign language to someone who can hear as spoken words, in a wide range of settings.
Computer-assisted notetaking
Also called electronic notetaking, this is used in education, training, and healthcare. Computer-assisted notetaking can be conducted by a software program or an operator. This information is projected on a screen or computer, and also provides a written record of a session.
If you are interested in learning sign language, you might start with the excellent video below. Note that this video teaches ASL. There are similar BSL videos, along with many others, available online.
Finally, let’s talk about the ear itself. These are a few important hearing anatomy terms.
We can’t forget about our ears. They are complicated and intricate organs with many components we rarely consider. Here are some of the most common terms to describe the anatomy of the ear:
The outer ear
Comprises the pinna (visible part of the ear), the ear canal, and drum and mainly consists of bone and cartilage.
The middle ear
Lies behind the drum, a cavity linked to the nose via the Eustachian tube.
Inside the middle ear are three tiny, connected bones, called the ossicles and the smallest human bones. These respond to sound and form part of the hearing pathway.
The inner ear
is where the cochlea lies. This shell-shaped hearing organ housed within the skull is fingernail-sized, and has thousands of hair cells that send signals to the brain when stimulated, allowing you to hear.
We created the animation below to show how the ear works. 👇
We hope you’ve learned something from this glossary of terms. If you would like to suggest new terms for this guide send us a note at [email protected].
