Hearing Loss the hidden disability Caroline Oliver

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Hearing Loss the hidden disability
Caroline Oliver

• Regional Communications and Information Officer
  London, South East and Anglia

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RNID Hearing Loss, the hidden disability

• 1 in 7 people in the UK have some form of hearing
  loss - 9 million people
• Most common form is Presbyacusis or age-related
  hearing loss
• 55 of people over 60 have hearing loss 90 of
  people over 81
• 2.5 million people have hearing aids 1.4
  million use them regularly, another 6 million
  could benefit from a hearing aid
• Around 70,000 people in UK use BSL as their first
  language
• 68 feel isolated because of their deafness 90
  believe that hearing people dont realise how
  difficult being deaf can be
• 75 have problems coping in shops, banks, health
  care settings, public places, transport, and
  meeting new people

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RNID - Deaf Awareness

• deaf - general / medical term used when talking
  about people with all degrees of deafness
• Deaf people whose preferred language is BSL,
  describe themselves as Deaf with a capital D to
  emphasise their identity as a cultural and
  linguistic minority
• deafblind people with dual sensory loss of
  varying degrees
• hard of hearing used to describe people who
  have lost their hearing gradually, after learning
  to speak
• deafened people born hearing but who suddenly
  become severely or profoundly deaf after learning
  to speak

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RNID Causes of hearing loss

• There are many reasons why a person may lose
  their hearing, some are temporary, some are
  permanent.
• Some causes of permanent deafness include
• Mumps or meningitis
• Some drugs such as antibiotics (aminoglycodides)
• Frequent exposure to loud noise
• Serious head injury
• Rubella while pregnant
• Premature or difficult births
• Repeated infections in the middle ear
• Age related hearing loss (Presbyacusis)

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RNID How the ear works

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RNID Different types of deafness

• There are two main types of deafness
• Conductive deafness where sound cannot pass
  freely through the outer or middle ear
• Sensorineural deafness where the cause of the
  deafness is in the cochlea or in the hearing
  nerve. This type of deafness often reduces the
  quality of sound as well as its loudness.

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RNID Related Conditions

• Tinnitus
• - noises heard in the ear or head that have no
  external source
• Hyperacusis and Loudness Recruitment
• - sensitivity to loud noise or oversensitivity
  to normal levels of noise
• Musical Hallucinations
• - conventional tinnitus is converted mentally
  into more organised sound such as music or songs

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RNID Assistance and support

• There is a variety of different assistance and
  support available if you have a hearing loss
• Hearing aids
• Equipment
• Tinnitus retraining therapy
• Communication support
• Information and support lines
• Lipreading and BSL classes
• Hearing therapy
• Cochlea implants
• Benefits

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RNID INFORMATION LINE

• Telephone [phone]
• Textphone 0808 808 9000
• Email informationline_at_rnid.org.uk
• Website www.rnid.org.uk