ABOUT HEARING LOSS

Hearing loss is the partial or extreme loss of a person’s ability to receive information by listening. People can have varying degrees of hearing loss, which can be determined by visiting an audiologist. The most extreme cases of hearing loss are known as deafness, a term used when the hearing loss is so severe a person cannot understand information when listening is the sole means of receiving information.

Hearing loss affects 12,000 children born in the United States each year, making it the most common birth defect. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, that means an estimated 28 million people in the United States have some degree of hearing loss.

Today, most infants have a hearing loss screening before they leave the hospital. Since typically, babies and young children learn to talk by listening to the voices of family members and caregivers; early detection of a hearing loss means earlier access to hearing technology and early intervention gives a child a better opportunity to develop spoken language.

Audiology
Basic Information on Hearing and How to read an Audiogram
     http://www.earinfo.com/howread1.html

This site contains a good glossary of audiological terms
     http://www.drf.org/hh_dictionary/glossary.htm

This is an excellent website. It contains tons of information….probably more than in any other single site. It was started and is maintained by the mother of a hearing impaired child. She has done a tremendous amount of work here and has links to many, if not all, of the sites listed below and to other great info.
     www.listen-up.org


For information in Spanish, go to: http://www.listen-up.org/htm/spanish.htm