Abstract

Hearing loss (HL) can be defined medically, educationally and culturally. When defined medically, HL is categorized at levels from slight to profound. When defined educationally, HL is described in relation to the child’s ability to learn language via audition and to perform academically. For example the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA) uses hearing impairment as the category labels and defines it as a loss that serves enough to adversely affect a child’s educational performance. When defined culturally, hearing loss is described in terms of a shared cultural identity among individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (Schiermer, 2000).