Terminology

Some refer to hearing loss as congenital or acquired. If a hearing loss is congenital , it is thought to have been present at birth, or associated with the birth process, or to have developed in the first few days of life. An acquired hearing loss is one that has not been present at birth but developed later, either during childhood or adulthood. An acquired hearing loss may also be called an adventitious hearing loss.

Some refer to hearing loss as being pre-lingual or post-lingual. A pre-lingual hearing loss occurrs before the acquisition of language and speech. A post-lingual hearing loss is one occurring after developing a first language.

Some disorders of hearing may not necessarily involve a loss of hearing acuity but rather difficulty listening and processing sounds that are heard. Thus, the term central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)is used.

Persons with hearing loss may use a variety of terms to describe themselves. Terms that have general acceptance among some, but not all, individuals with hearing loss include hard of hearing, hearing impaired, late deafened, Deaf and deaf. Persons who are hard of hearing would preferred to be referred to as just that--"hard of hearing." The term "hearing impaired" is viewed as negative; after all, people with hearing loss are not necessarily "impaired." Individuals in the deaf community and of the Deaf Culture use the term Deaf or the capitalized "D" to denote their identity as a member of the Deaf Culture. Other individuals who may be deaf, but who may not identify with the Deaf Culture, might use the term "deaf" with the lower case "d."

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