Hearing Loss and Deafness

9

Ta n ner, D. C.

Case Studies in Communication Sciences and Disorders,

Second Edition (pp. 167-184).

(^) © 2017 SLACK Incorporated.
Silence is as full of potential wisdom and wit as the unhewn marble of great sculpture.
— Aldous Huxley
This chapter examines the effects of hearing loss and deafness on the ability to communi-
cate. There is an overview of the hearing mechanism and the associated energy transformations.
Etiologies of hearing loss and deafness are reviewed, as are screening and site of lesion testing.
Technological advances in amplification and cochlear implants, as well as their social implications,
are critiqued. Some case studies address industrial hearing testing, deafness and meningitis, and
presbycusis. Others focus on a cochlear implant, the social aspects of deafness, and hearing loss
associated with traumatic brain injury.
Audiology, the science of hearing and the diagnosis and nonmedical treatment of hearing loss,
is a rapidly evolving profession. It developed after World War II as an in de pen dent clinical disci-
pline because of the large number of soldiers with noise- induced hearing loss (Martin, 1997). The
American Speech- Language- Hearing Association and the American Acad emy of Audiology, two
professional organ izations for audiologists, have established the academic requirements and scope
of practice for their members.
Audiologists are distinct from hearing aid dispensers. Hearing aid dispensers, formerly called
hearing aid audiologists, have limited education and training in the diagnosis and management of
hearing loss and deafness. The term currently preferred by the International Hearing Society and