A Day In The Life of The Hearing Impaired

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A Day In The Life ofThe Hearing Impaired

• Edward Simpson
• TCOM 4-6045

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Hearing Impaired

• 21 million Americans suffer from some form of
  Hearing Impairment.
• Approximately two million are under the age of 18
• Hearing loss is the third leading chronic
  disability following arthritis and hypertension.
• 12 million people in the United States have
  hearing aids.(Source Hearing Alliance of
  America.)

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Causes of Deafness

• A lot of things can cause deafness
• Congenital a defect of the middle or inner ear
• Hereditary
• Illness infections of the ear, meningitis,
  mumps,
• measles, Rubella (during pregnancy /after the
  child is born)
• Trauma head injury
• Aging
• Chronicle damage by long term exposure to hard
  noise (noise pollution)
• (Source Hearing Alliance of America.)

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Hearing Impaired

• The degree of hearing impairment can vary widely
  from person to person.
• Some people have partial hearing loss, meaning
  that the ear can pick up some sounds
• others have complete hearing loss.

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What does it mean?

• Deafness means a hearing impairment which is so
  severe that a person is impaired in processing
  linguistic information through hearing, with or
  without amplification.

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What does it mean?

• A person who is hard-of-hearing is one who,
  generally with the use of a hearing aid, has
  residual hearing sufficient to enable processing
  of linguistic information through audition.

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Communication Options

• American Sign Language
• Captions for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Viewers
• Cochlear Implants in Adults and Children
• Hearing Aids
• Telecommunications Relay Services

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Communication Options

• Closed Captioning is available for most
  television programming.

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How does a hearing aid work?

• A hearing aid is an electronic device with a
  small microphone that amplifies weak sounds
  through a small speaker. You must have some
  ability to hear for the device to work. And
  because hearing loss affects people in different
  ways, you need to get the right device for you.

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Sign Language

• American Sign Language is a complex visual
  language that is used by the Deaf community in
  the United States and English-speaking parts of
  Canada.
• It is the native language of many Deaf men and
  women, as well as some hearing children born into
  Deaf families.

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Sign Language

• ASL shares no grammatical similarities to
  English and should not be considered in any way
  to be a broken, mimed, or gestured form of
  English.
• In fact, in terms of syntax, ASL shares more
  with spoken Japanese than it does with English.

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Education

• There are many colleges and universities that
  specialize in the education of individuals with
  hearing impairments.

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Education

• Gallaudet University
• Model Secondary School for the Deaf
• National Technical Institute for the Deaf
• University of Bristol Centre for Deaf Studies
• School for the Deaf at Central Institute for the
  Deaf
• Tennessee School for the Deaf
• Osaka City School for the Deaf
• The Newfoundland School for the Deaf

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General Courtesy

• Facial expressions, gestures, and other body
  language will help convey your message.
• Get the attention of a person with a hearing
  impairment before speaking and communicating and
  always face them.
• Eliminate background noises. Sounds taken for
  granted and normally ignored by hearing
  individuals, are amplified by a hearing aid and
  interfere with the communication of the person
  who is hard of hearing.

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General Courtesy

• Use interpreter where needed
• Supplement audible alarm systems with simple
  visual alarms such as flashing lights.
• The use of visual aids is most helpful since
  vision is their primary means of receiving
  information.

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Everyday Tools

• There are many tools to help individuals with
  hearing impairments operate from day to day.

From hearing the doorbell ring, to answering the
telephone, there are special devices that help
with things that most people take for granted.
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Everyday Tools
Alarm clock with bed shaker
Telephone with Strobe light and horn
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Who do we know?
Actress Marlee Martin
Heather Whitestone Miss America 1995
Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk)
Beethoven Musical Composer
Rush Limbaugh Talk Show Host
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Employment Opportunities

• Teachers

Sign Language Interpreters
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Why do I care?

• My cousin, who is 6 years older than me, is
  completely deaf. As a child I couldnt
  appreciate the challenges that she had to endure.
  Now that Im older, I realize how great her
  accomplishments are. She graduated from college,
  is successful in her field, has two beautiful
  children, and this past July she married someone
  who is also hearing impaired.

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Up Against All Odds!
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• People in this cultural group view Deafness as a
  difference rather than a disability.
• People are pretty much alike. It's only that our
  differences are more susceptible to definition
  than our similarities. Linda Ellerbee