How does deafness occur?
Several factors can be involved-
- Damage to the inner ear
- Ear infections
- Tumors
- Ruptured eardrum (this may be temporary as the eardrum can repair itself)
- Age: The older you get, the more likely you are to have hearing loss
- Loud noises, over a long period of time or in a sudden blast
- Occupational noises (if you operate machinery such as a jackhammer)
- Medications
- Illnesses, such as meningitis or measles
- It can be hereditary: "Runs in the family"
- Some people are simply born deaf, with no known cause
- Ear wax can build up to the point where your hearing is affected (this is also usually temporary: Clean it out and your hearing is fine)
- Sometimes, swimmers get so much water in their ears, it can impair their hearing.
How do your ears work? Here's a good explanation: https://www.entnet.org/content/how-ear-works
How does a hearing aid work?
A hearing aid is basically a microphone that can amplify sound and make it easier for hard of hearing people to hear. The drawback is that it is simply a microphone-it doesn't filter out the sounds you want to concentrate on, it makes everything louder. A person wearing a hearing aid can control the volume to some degree, but many times people really dislike a hearing aid because of all the other noises they have to hear.
The mechanics of the hearing aid rest behind the ear.
How does a cochlear implant work?
An implant works better than simply amplifying sound: it actually tries to help your brain 'hear.'
However, a cochlear implant does not magically give a person back their hearing, making them 'like everyone else.' There are varying degrees of success, depending on how long the person has been deaf and if he or she has ever been able to hear. It will involve surgery to implant, ongoing fine-tuning, many hours of speech therapy, and the implants are expensive without insurance. It also separates some deaf people from their group of friends: if you were deaf and had found a community of deaf people, and now are inserted into the hearing world, that can be difficult. Some people who might benefit choose not to try an implant. https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-all-deaf-people-get-cochlear-implants-Is-it-only-a-financial-problem-or-do-cochlear-implants-only-work-for-some-types-of-deafness
TTY phones are still in use in some areas. The phone has to be specially equipped so that people can type in a message; the message then appears on a type of screen for the recipient. Now, people simply text oor use online scheduling to set up a repair person to come out or make an appointment, as examples. Voice-To-Text apps can also be helpful.
What is Closed Captioning?
This is the same as subtitles: the words being spoken appear at the bottom of your TV screen. With a recorded DVD, the captions are embedded into the disc, and that's considered truly 'closed' captioning. Sometimes with closed captioning or subtitles, they also describe what's' going on to give some context to the story. In some cases, the words are transcribed 'live,' as the show occurs, for such things as sports games and news shows. When the 'translation' is done using a computer program, however, there will often be misspelled words and incorrect terms: that's usually not caused by human error but rather the perils of Autocorrect. Sometimes, a court stenographer will transcribe what's being said using similar equipment they use in court.
Is it hard to find a job if you are deaf/hard of hearing?
It can be, even though there's no reason for that. Here's a restaurant run by deaf people:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/09/06/640893326/deaf-owned-eateries-forge-path-to-fight-joblessness-among-those-with-hearing-los?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news
What about sign language?
People in the U.S. use ASL, American Sign Language, and ASL was created by a French person. British sign language is different than American Sign Language, incorporating more finger-spelling. In fact, did you know other countries have their own unique signs?
There are signed languages in other countries (e.g., Italian Sign Language, Chinese Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language). American Deaf culture centers on the use of ASL and identification and unity with other people who are Deaf. A Deaf sociolinguist, Dr. Barbara Kannapel, developed a definition of the American Deaf culture that includes a set of learned behaviors of a group of people who are deaf and who have their own language (ASL), values, rules, and traditions. -Gallaudet University
It's very important to watch the facial expression of a person signing; it gives more meaning to the conversation, and not everyone signs exactly the same. Signing is best done for a crowd by someone wearing a solid color shirt, so eyes can focus on the person's hands as they sign, and the facial expressions.
The ASL alphabet. Most words and phrases have signs, spelling is just one part of ASL.
Lip reading is a skill some hard of hearing people use, as well, and is not easily learned. Check out this video and see if you could lip read what people are saying. http://mentalfloss.com/article/72800/what-its-really-lip-read
https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/Deaf-Culture-Facts
Here are some things deaf and hard of hearing people want you to know:
- Deafness does not mean a lack of intelligence.
- Some deaf people speak, some don't speak often. Imagine trying to learn to speak when you can't hear yourself or your teacher.
- Some, but not all, deaf people can sign or lip read.
- Deaf people enjoy music. Here's "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, signed: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=song+happy+with+sign+language&&view=detail&mid=E813870FE2C9E1B74274E813870FE2C9E1B74274&&FORM=VRDGAR
- There are degrees of deafness, and sometimes a person may be fully deaf in one ear but not the other.
- If you are going to chat with someone who is deaf, choose a place with good lighting. It makes it easier to sign and to infer the conversation with facial expressions, etc.
- Look right at the person as you speak so they can understand you fully.
- Speak directly to the deaf person whenever possible, and don't use their friend or relative as a go-between, referring to the deaf person as "does she want tea?" or "is she ok?" when the deaf person is sitting right there.
- If you have a question about deafness, just ask.
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