Slight Hearing Loss

Normal hearing sensitivity is defined as hearing at 15 dB or better. A slight hearing loss is defined as hearing sounds beginning around 20-25 dB.

This diagram shows the range of normal hearing and slight hearing loss. The further towards the bottom of the graph, the more severe the hearing loss. A few speech sounds are also plotted, indicating the approximate frequency (pitch) and intensity (loudness) of each sound.

Speech sounds differ in terms of frequency (pitch) and intensity (loudness). Vowel sounds such as 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' and 'u', tend to be lower in frequency (pitch) and louder in intensity. Consonants such as 's', 'p', 't', 'sh', 'k', and 'f' tend to be higher in frequency (pitch) and softer in intensity. How much hearing loss your child has will determine how he or she will be able to hear normal conversational speech.

The effects of slight hearing loss are subtle, but may include difficulty in:

• hearing faint or distant speech (when a person is at a distance greater than three feet)
• hearing the fine distinctions in word sounds, such as the “s” sound in plurals, (lady vs. ladies) and possessives (Tommy vs. Tommy’s). Verb tenses might also be unclear (is vs. was, fill vs. filled).
• hearing in background noise, such as a noisy classroom or restaurant, or with the television on in the room
• following a fast-paced conversation
• picking up subtle conversational cues
• focusing on what the teacher is saying in the classroom

 Your child might experience problems like these:

• Your child might have difficulty in school when the classroom is noisy or if he or she is not seated close to the teacher.
• Your child might become fatigued in school from the increased effort it takes to listen.
• Your child might respond inappropriately if he or she has missed parts of a conversation.

Some things you can do to help your child in the classroom:

• You can make sure your child’s teacher knows about your child’s hearing loss.
• Your child should sit close to the teacher where good eye contact is possible.
• If your child has one ear that hears better, that ear should be on the side closer to the teacher.
• Your child might benefit from a soundfield or personal FM system. In these systems, the teacher wears a microphone which transmits either to a headset worn by your child, or to speakers in the classroom. In both cases, the teacher’s voice is amplified so that it is more easily heard above the background noise of the classroom.

Click here to download our pamphlet on this topic (pdf).