ASL

Oct 8th, 2008

 This Week’s Vocab

Angry / Furious Dumb/ Stupid

Beautiful Happy

Big/ Large Hard of Hearing

Cool ( breeze) Hearing/ say/ speech

Deaf Heavy

Tired/ exhausted Ugly

Weak/ weakness Warm

Vocabulary continued...
Hello/ Hi Sad

Interesting/ Interest Short

Light (in weight) Sleepy

Mad/ Angry Small

Pretty/ Beautiful Smart/ clever/ bright

Stupid/ Ignorant/ Strong/ strength/

Dumb powerful

Surprised Tall
 Deafness
People can become deaf or hard of hearing for a
variety of reasons Including:
 Genetics
 Illness ( meningitis, measles, mumps, AIDS...etc)
 Environmental noise ( ipods, prolonged exposure to
loud noises)
 Sensorineural hearing loss ( portions of the inner ear
are not sensitive to noise)
 Conductive loss ( sound does not travel through the
ear)
 Physical Trauma
 Levels of Deafness
Not all individuals who are deaf have the same
degree of hearing loss
Sometimes hearing is better in one ear than the
other
Hearing loss is measured in decibels
 Mild:
 for adults: between 25 and 40 dB
 for children: between 20 and 40 dB
 Moderate: between 41 and 55 dB
 Moderately severe: between 56 and 70 dB
 Severe: between 71 and 90 dB
 Profound: 90 dB or greater
( Indicates the lowest noise an individual can detect)
 Common noises
Painful
150 dB = rock music peak
140 dB = firearms, air raid siren, jet engine
130 dB = jackhammer
120 dB = jet plane take-off, amplified rock music at 4-6 ft., car stereo, band
practice
Extremely Loud
110 dB = rock music, model airplane
106 dB = timpani and bass drum rolls
100 dB = snowmobile, chain saw, pneumatic drill
90 dB = lawnmower, shop tools, truck traffic, subway
Very Loud
80 dB = alarm clock, busy street
70 dB = busy traffic, vacuum cleaner
60 dB = conversation, dishwasher
Moderate
50 dB = moderate rainfall
40 dB = quiet room
 Hard of Hearing
Many people with hearing loss have better
hearing in the lower frequency ranges (low
tones), and cannot hear in the higher
frequencies.
Some people find it difficult to differentiate
between z, and th, or d, t, b, and p.
They may be unable to hear thin, high-pitched
or metallic noises, such as birds chirping or
singing, clocks ticking,
Often are sensitive to noise in the environment
Technology used by the
Deaf
Hearing Devices

 Hearing Aids

 Fm Devices

 Cochlear Implants
 Hearing Aids
Are fitted and set up by qualified Audiologists

Amplify sounds, but do not restore hearing

Are moulded to an individual’s ears

 Fm Device
Has a receiver and an earpiece

Used in classrooms, or when someone is giving

a speech

Attaches to the hearing aid or cochlear implant,

while the speaker has a receiver which is
attached to a small microphone
 Cochlear Implants
Electronic device which has one portion implanted
into the inner ear, while the other portion rests
outside

Outside portion consists of a microphone and

processor which sends a signal to the inside portion

The inside portion stimulates the nerve endings in

the cochlea, producing nerve impulses. The
impulses are sent to the brain where they are
interpreted as sound.

Is not a “cure” for deafness but currently the best

technology to improve hearing in deaf individuals
 Other Technologies
Video Phones

Texting

Flashing alarms, flashing/vibrating alarm clocks

TTY devices
 Video of the day
The CI