In today's video I'm going to talk about different levels of deafness.
If you're new to my channel welcome my name is Emily, I started Definite Hearing as a way to
increase awareness for the deaf and hard of hearing, I hope you'll stick around to the
end of this video because if you do I'm going to share more about my hearing loss and the level of
my hearing loss, if you haven't already please like this video and subscribe to my channel.
I look forward to making more great content for you. All right. In today's video we are going to
talk about different levels of hearing loss. Hearing loss is rated on an audiogram chart.
If you suspect that you have hearing loss, you should visit a licensed audiologist, they will
perform a hearing test and create a scientific mapping of your hearing, or an audiogram.
This is what it looks like, depending on where your ears map on this chart, it will inform the
audiologist, as to what type of hearing loss, you have depending on who you talk to, there are
different levels of hearing loss. The four major ones are mild, moderate, severe and profound,
but in some charts, there are different thresholds within those thresholds between zero to 15
decibels is a normal hearing threshold, when you take an audiogram you hope that all of your
charting for both ears is within this threshold. The next section is a mild hearing loss,
mild hearing loss is charted anywhere between 16 to 40 decibel now you'll notice in this chart, but
this has a lot more sections, they have a section for slight hearing loss, but as I said, I usually
refer anyone that has a loss between 16 to 40 as mild, the next threshold is a moderate threshold,
the moderate hearing loss ranges when your ears are charted between the 41 and 70 decibel ranges,
a severe hearing loss is charted between 71 to 90, and a profound is a 91 plus rating,
I will add that not shown on this chart is 120 decibels plus, this is defined as deaf by the
audiology community now people can be considered deaf when they have any sort of hearing loss,
they can also be considered part of hearing, some people use the term hearing impaired. So
a lot of people who are hard of hearing, do not like that term because it indicates that there is
something wrong with your hearing. I personally do not mind the use of hearing impaired when people
refer to my hearing loss, because I know that they're referring to my hearing loss,
not me as a person, but just be aware that a lot of people take their hearing loss,
personally, and the way that you refer to their loss. They'll personally take as a way that you
refer to them so hard of hearing is a great way to use for someone who is hard of hearing or has
a loss of hearing. Now as you look at this scale, anything that is outside of normal hearing
should be aided and addressed, there are a lot of people including physicians,
specifically ear nose and throat doctors that think if someone has a mild boss,
then is there risk of getting bullied is greater than 18, their hearing loss, this is ridiculous,
in my opinion, the hearing standard of medical care is significantly behind that of any other
medical field. For example, if someone has even a slight loss of vision, or vision difficulties,
they're fit with some kind of vision correction, whether that's glasses, contacts or other visual
devices, but it's ridiculous that even with a mild loss, people say, I don't know if you
need hearing aids. If you have any sort of loss if you're outside of that normal audiogram threshold
of the zero to 15 decibel, you should get hearing aid, you don't know what you're missing out on,
and your brain can deteriorate faster when you don't have an auditory stimulation,
you will be so amazed about what you hear when you get hearing aids, even if you have a slight loss,
I wear hearing aids myself and I love them so so so much. Thank you for sticking around to
the end of this video, I have a hearing loss that is rated as moderate to severe, why is this. This
is because my hearing loss is charted between the 65 to the 80 decibels, so overlaps in those ranges
of a moderate moderately severe moderate to severe thresholds, I was diagnosed with my hearing loss
at birth, due to having an older sibling that was diagnosed with a hearing loss, I was immediately
diagnosed. Thankfully, my parents were able to hit me with hearing aids at the age of four months
old, and I was able to learn speech much faster and easier than my older hard of hearing sister,
hearing aids are absolutely incredible brain powering devices for people of all ages and types,
it will say that hearing aids don't work for everyone. For example, if an individual has
microtia, or an ear that is not formed properly, it may be impossible to wear a hearing aid,
but there are different hearing devices that can help these individuals, for example, Bone Anchored
Hearing aids. These are hearing aids that are anchored in the back of the bone in the head,
to help the sound reach the brain. In addition to that, hearing aids can sometimes not be powerful
enough for specific hearing losses, for example, those that are in the severe to profound a Deaf
ranges cochlear implants can be an option of hearing what hearing devices do you wear,
I would love to hear in the comments below. I wear resound Enzo 3d hearing aids. I love them so
so so much. I chose these hearing aids because they have Bluetooth connection with my phone,
and the music sounds amazing through them three devices are incredible, without my hearing aids,
I cannot hear anything, except for maybe the faint sound of a fire alarm to give you an idea I start
hearing at the sound of a vacuum cleaner at that start hearing, that's like a quiet sound to me.
So, my threshold of being able to hear that moderate to severe is significant without hearing
aids, I would not be verbal like I am today would not be able to speak clearly and my speech would
be muffled, and it would be really hard for me to be as social and as outgoing, as I am, especially
with the fact that my parents are not native sign language users sign language is an excellent mode
of communication for those that are born to Deaf parents that are fluent in sign language. Babies
should learn the native language of their home. So there you have it. Now you know the different
hearing loss thresholds. As you can see this chart has some sub sections of these sections, but mild,
moderate, severe and profound are the four major sections of hearing loss, hopefully you're in
the normal category, but if you're not, you're not alone. I have that moderate to severe loss myself,
and guess what? Life is amazing. I hope you enjoyed this video today please like
this video and subscribe to my channel. I look forward to making more great content for you.