Deafness

People with hearing loss have difficulty getting and keeping jobs. Those who do have employment often need communication accommodations to function in their jobs.

It is often extremely difficult for people with hearing loss to get a job. Whether it is because of fear, or prejudice, employers are often unwilling to hire the hard of hearing, late deafened, or oral deaf people. This is illegal under the ADA, but is still an extremely common practice. In addition to the obvious consequence that many deaf persons don't have jobs, many are stuck in jobs that are unfulfilling, offer no advancement possibilities, or lack challenge and interest.  They are stuck because it is extremely unlikely that they will get hired for another job, regardless of their qualifications and experience.

Like blindness, these people face bias when they are discovered to have a disability.  People seem to not accept someone regardless of how talented they are.  They are immediately discovered during the interview process.  They cannot talk on the phone or in person. 

There is no legal term defining "legally deaf".  There is no disability available for deafness.  The SSA does not recognize deafness as a disability.  See Disability Evaluation Under Social Security (Also known as the "Blue Book") Part III - Listing of Impairments, Social Security Administration SSA Pub. No. 64- 039.  One can go to Social Security Online and use their site search to get the latest version of the Blue Book by keying in "Blue Book"   Then select Office of Disability and GO.

To understand deafness, we need to understand hearing and sound.

Dynamic Range - The average 35-year-old human can hear from nearly full quieting to 70db. Anything higher and the brain tends to compensate for the loudness.  Also, damage begins to occur at the frequencies being heard.  Deafness can occur at anything over 110db.  When dynamic range loss begins to occur it may be caused by damage to the nerves leading to the inner ear or the ear canal is affected by a wide variety of difficulties.

Frequency Response - The average 35-year-old male can hear frequencies between 30 Hz and 15,000 Hz.  A woman can hear slightly higher frequencies.  The maximum frequency that a human can hear is 20,000 Hz.  As we age, the ability to hear upper frequencies become less over time. The frequency range of the speaking human voice is between 200 - 500 Hz.  To understand what is heard at what frequencies go to The Hz's and the dB's of Real Music.

Loss of hearing can occur over any part or parts of the frequency spectrum.  Dynamic range can also be affected.  The loss of hearing can be total or partial.  If the voice range is affected, it will be hard to understand people speaking.