Hearing Handicapped Definition

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent physical limitations in the world. In 2005, Ross E. Mitchell of the Gallaudet Research Institutes estimated that in the United States alone, 11 million people consider themselves deaf or hard of hearing, with millions more sharing in some degree of hearing loss. Over the years, scientists struggled to define the criteria that qualify a hearing loss as a handicap versus an impairment or disability.

History

• In 1978, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) formed a "task force" whose job was to define the parameters that establish when a hearing impairment becomes a hearing handicap. Two years earlier, when the ASHA first made the plans to build the task force, the United Nations was establishing its own definitions of a hearing handicap, courtesy of the World Health Organization (WHO). Together, these two organizations have formed similar definitions of a handicap and how the term differs from that of an impairment or disability.

The Facts

• The WHO defines an impairment as, "any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function." More specifically, the ASHA refers to a hearing impairment as a change to the auditory structure or function that makes it abnormal. The WHO links impairment with disability by defining disability as a limitation of ability to perform an activity in a normal way due to the impairment. The ASHA defines a hearing handicap as a disadvantage that a person faces communicating with others in his daily life as a result of a hearing impairment.

Identification

• Since the definition of hearing handicap depends on a person's communicative ability, there are nine factors that the ASHA uses to determine when a person's hearing loss is a hearing handicap over an impairment or disability. Age plays a crucial role in the identification process. The current age of the individual, the age of the individual when the impairment developed and the age of the individual when the impairment was first discovered are all factors in identifying a hearing handicap. In addition, the nature and extent of the impairment, the individual's communicative needs, the relationship of the hearing impairment to other physical or mental impairments, the amount and success of rehabilitative treatment, the individual's reaction to his impairment and the effect on the individual's communicative abilities help determine whether or not the impairment qualifies as a hearing handicap.

Features

• By definition, a hearing handicap puts individuals at a disadvantage when communicating with others. However, scientifically the hearing handicap is less about communication and more about the ability to hear sounds. In India, the definition of hearing handicap was determined by the Rehabilitation Council of India Act of 1992, which defines a hearing handicap as, "deafness with hearing impairment of 70 decibels (dB) and above in the better ear or total loss of hearing in both ears." Likewise, the ASHA has considered measuring hearing handicaps by hearing sensitivity. In other words, the ASHA would measure an individual's average hearing threshold at 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz. According to the ASHA, a slight handicap would measure at 25 dB while a very severe handicap would be measured at 75 dB. If the individual's hearing fell somewhere between 25 dB and 75 dB, he could be considered hearing handicapped.

Significance

• Characterizing a hearing handicap influences an individual's right to financial assistance from the government and aids in finding solutions for equal rights and opportunity. The WHO uses the term "handicap" to inform and influence political action in the attempt to make social institutions like education equally available to handicapped persons. In addition to these policies, in the United States, the ASHA uses these factors to determine when rehabilitative assistance, special services or financial assistance is appropriate.