All About Deafness

If your child has recently been diagnosed as being deaf or hard of hearing, you’ll hear a lot of new terminology that may sound confusing and even a little intimidating. It helps to understand a bit more about hearing loss and this section of Flying Colours covers all sorts of information about deafness - from stories from parents with lived experiences, Q and As from people in the workplace and check out the subject summaries with helpful hints and links.

Depending on which part of the hearing system is affected, hearing loss is classed as either conductive, sensorineural, or mixed; mild, moderate, severe or profound; unilateral or bilateral.

In Australia, three to six children in every thousand have some degree of hearing loss.

Discovering your infant or young child is deaf or hard of hearing can understandably be difficult and perhaps overwhelming. The most important thing you can do is continue loving your child and providing the care and nurture they need.

We heard from close to 350 parents who told us what they wanted to know more about, what links and hints would help them as they navigate every day.

Approximately 250–400 children born each year have significant permanent hearing loss in both ears. Permanent hearing loss is where the hearing threshold (or hearing level) is more than 40dB and where this threshold is permanent.