|
Archived Newsletters 2010-09-14 First steps to understanding the needs of a deaf person First steps to understanding the needs
of a deaf person - Before anyone with normal hearing can start to support
a deaf person, they need to understand precisely what problems the deaf person
is having
However,
'hear' is not really a particularly helpful word anyway because it is so
ambiguous. A sound may not loud enough for a deaf person, but other questions
need to be asked, particularly for 'hearing' speech. Can the deaf person, for
example, register (hear) that someone is speaking, but not be able to
distinguish the words clearly enough to follow what is being said? If so - as
is commonly the case - is there more of a problem with some voices than with
others, like with the high pitched ones of children? Is there more of a problem
in a noisy environment where voices seem to merge into the background noise?
Are some sounds, which appear to be acceptably loud to people with normal
hearing, too painful to endure. The list of questions could grow longer. So
whether or not a deaf person can 'hear' a sound is nowhere near as helpful as
whether they can listen to it comfortably, 'understand' it or 'interpret' it.
So
it is important to understand something about hearing problems in order to be
able to express and understand the needs of a deaf person - see the links in
the box above right.
Other
problems with the ears such as 'tinnitus' and 'vertigo' are not considered here
because they have blessedly never affected me severely and so I have not had to
try to understand them at all deeply or to develop coping strategies for them
|
| Back | Back to top |
