Deafness and communication
The term deafness includes four groups of people. Each have different communication needs
- Deaf sign language users
- People who are deafblind
- People who are hard of hearing
- People who are deafened
Go to Defining Deafness produced by Scottish Council on Deafness for details.
 Audio quote: Bill J who has acquired hearing loss
Key actions
You can help a person with an acquired hearing
loss to participate more fully by making sure:
- the venue is quiet, with good acoustics
- speakers' faces can be clearly seen, including their
mouths (this will help those who lip read)
- speakers use gestures and visual aids to emphasise
what they are saying
- a pen and some paper are kept handy to write down
key points
- specialist services are available, if required
 Deafness: further information
Acquired hearing
loss (MS Word)
Acquired hearing
loss (Adobe PDF)
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