What is profound hearing loss and what are the effects?
By Dr John Quayle MBBS FRCS(Ed) FRACS Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon Profound hearing loss is a term loosely used to indicate a hearing loss of greater than 85 decibels. Broadly a mild loss is one of less than 30 decibels, and a loss between 30 and 60 decibels is called a moderate loss. A loss between 60 and 85 decibels is referred to as severe. Profound hearing loss is an imprecise term taking no account of the type of loss and whether all frequencies are involved or, as is more common, just the high frequencies. Profound hearing loss is best regarded as indicating just what it implies in normal parlance and not as a scientific term. A person with a profound hearing loss cannot hear normal conversation level speech or even loud environmental sounds such as a door banging, a telephone ringing, a knock at the door or heavy rain. A profound hearing loss will be an inner ear i.e. sensorineural deafness of perhaps a mixed sensorineural and middle ear deafness. The causes of sensorineural hear
