Levels of Hearing Loss

The level of your child’s deafness can be described in decibel (dB) hearing level, or by the terms ‘mild’, ‘moderate’, ‘severe’ or ‘profound’.

• Mild (21–40 dB)

• Moderate (41–70 dB)

• Severe (71–95 dB)

• Profound (95 dB).

Your child’s audiologist will be able to give you more information about the level of your child’s deafness. They will also be able to explain the sounds that your child can and can’t hear.

The above is what is called 'the speech banana', you might have seen this in your child's IEP.  Speech sounds, and other everyday sounds, have been plotted by decibels and frequencies. This can give you some ideas of what sounds your child might have difficulties in hearing.