Hearing & Balance Center

Print Page Print   EmailEmail   Bookmark Page Bookmark   RSS Feeds RSS

Affects of Hearing Loss on Communication


The type of hearing loss and its severity determines how a person's communication will be affected.

Hearing Threshold

Mild Hearing Loss
  • Causes difficulty hearing soft speech at conversational level.
  • Difficulty hearing in noise.
Moderate Hearing Loss
  • Causes difficulty hearing speech at conversational level.
  • Increasing difficulty in group discussions and significant problems understanding in background noise. 
Moderately-Severe Hearing Loss
  • Can hear only loud speech in quiet situations.
  • Extreme difficulty understanding conversation in background noise.
Severe Hearing Loss
  • Typically will not hear loud speech.
  • Relies heavily on speech/lip-reading cues.
  • May be a candidate for a cochlear implant.
Loudness ScaleProfound Hearing Loss 
  • May hear loud environmental sounds.
  • Likely to be a good cochlear implant candidate, depending on duration of profound hearing loss

 

webmaster@mcw.edu
© 2007 Medical College of Wisconsin
Page Updated 02/28/2008