Foundations of

Deafness and
Hard of Hearing
(Brief History and Definition)

SPED 605
Brief History of
Hearing Loss
Earliest Known Instances of Hearing Loss

Archeologists have found proof of hearing loss in

skeletal evidence dating back to more than
10,000 years ago. Many of those buried at
Shanidar Cave, an archaeological site located on
Mount Bradost in Iraqi Kurdistan, had external
auditory exostoses which are bony growths in ear
canal that can cause conductive hearing loss.
 Hearing Loss in Ancient Egypt

The earliest known written record pertaining to hearing

loss was found in ancient Egypt – dating back to 1550
BC. In the Ebers Papyrus, a remedy for “Ear That Hears
Badly” is described. The remedy involves injecting olive
oil, red lead, ant eggs, bat wings and goat urine into the
ears. It’s not clear if this concoction was designed to
remove a build up of earwax or a way to cure what we
now know as sensorineural hearing loss.
 Hearing Loss in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle first wrote

about the deaf community in the early 10th century. These
philosophers’ observations were unfortunately did not
champion the importance of disability rights. The
philosophers wrote that the “ability to reason was
intrinsically linked with the ability to speak.” What the
philosophers meant by this was that those who were deaf
from birth were unintelligent.
 Hearing Loss in Burgundy

It is believed that the first reference to specific signs in

sign language comes not from members of the deaf
community, but from the monks of ancient Burgundy.
In order to honor and keep their strict vow of silence,
the monks created complicated signs in order to
communicate with one another. These hand signals had
eventually come to be known as “Cluniac sign
language” and had a major influence on monasteries all
across Europe.
Cluniac Sign Language
 Hearing Loss and the Romans

The earliest mention of the creation of a hearing aid

comes in the Magiae Naturalis of 1588 by the Neapolitan
polymath Giambattista della Porta, where he describes
horns shaped like the ears of animals known to have
excellent hearing. Though this may be an attempt to
create something more like a telescope to amplify sound.
The first ear trumpets were developed by Paolo Aproino,
a pupil of Galileo’s, in the 1610s, although they were not
in common use until the end of that century.
 Hearing Loss Today

We know the deaf and hard of hearing were present in the

past and probably in greater number than accounted for
by historians and archaeologists, especially when
considering all the illnesses and injuries associated with
hearing loss that we now strive to prevent or can treat.
Definition of Terms
Hearing Impairment is an impairment
in hearing whether permanent or
fluctuating, that affects a child’s
educational performance.

It is often used to describe people with

any degree of hearing loss, from mild to
profound, including those who are deaf
and those who are hard of hearing.
Hearing Loss means difficulty hearing.

Some hearing losses are temporary

and some are permanent.

Some kids are born with it and others

get it later on.
Deafness is the complete loss of hearing.
It is a condition that prevents an
individual from receiving sound in all or
most of its forms.
Deafness is pre-lingual when the condition occurs before the
child learns to talk.
Deafness is post-lingual when it is acquired after the child has
learned speech usually at the age of 2.
Hard of Hearing refers to a hearing
loss where there may be enough
residual hearing that an auditory
device, such as a hearing aid or FM
system, provides adequate assistance
to process speech.