Introduction

Pupils with a hearing impairment range from those with a mild hearing loss to those who are profoundly deaf. They cover the whole ability range.

Pupils with a hearing impairment may require hearing aids, adaptations to their environment and/or particular teaching strategies in order to access the concepts and language of the curriculum.

A number of pupils with a hearing impairment also have an additional disability or learning difficulty.

A hearing loss may be conductive or sensorineural and can be measured on a decibel scale. Four categories are generally used: mild; moderate; severe and profound and the hearing loss can be in one or both ears. Some pupils with a significant loss communicate through sign instead of, or as well as, speech.