To make it easy to talk about, we use this term to describe people who are deaf, deafened, partially hearing/deaf, hard of hearing, have Tinnitus, Meniere’s or Hyperacusis and may use British Sign Language, lipread, have a hearing aid or cochlear implant

The age you were diagnosed, your education and your communication choiceare just some of the variables that make each person with a hearing loss unique.Over the yearsmany categories andlabels have been used, but it’s best we use terms people are comfortable with:Those with up to a moderate loss who use English like to be called ‘hard of hearing’; those who are deafened before adulthood and have a severe loss prefer ‘deaf’. People aligned with the Deaf Community use‘Deaf’ (with a capital D) and can be called a Deaf Sign Language speaker/user

ringing, buzzing or other intrusive sounds which can make it hard to hear or concentrate

dizzy spells, sickness and a drop in hearing

some sounds, frequencies or volumes are painful, causing temporary deafness

British Sign Languageis recognised in the Disability Act (2017). It has a topic-comment syntax; vocabulary is formed by the hand, the position around the body and type of movement; the meaning is modulated by facial expression.

Lipreading is a linguistic art that relies on understanding the 30% of words that are shaped by the lips, together with fluency in that language and a great deal of deduction.