Thanks for those links..will check em out when I get a chance
So...based on that audiogram....am I `deaf`or just HOH or is it not that simple
It depends what you mean - medically ? functionally? culturally/socially? etc.
Medically
"Hoh" is generally defined (in adults) as having between +20db & +80db hearing loss (ie mild to moderately severe)
"deaf" is often defined as +90db hearing loss (or more)across 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz (severely-profound to profound/+120db(CNT)
Functionally
Someone who is Hoh is able to understand speech, with or without HAs and is able and
reasonably comfortable) communicating via listening/speaking. Hoh people typically DO use speechreading, HAs and other techniques (including ASL) to augment communication etc.
Someone who is deaf - is typically unable with or without HAs (and sometimes CIs) to understand speech &/or is not comfortable using speaking & listening to communicate. People who are deaf typically rely of heavily on speechreading, as well as other forms of communication such as writing, cuing, signing to communicate with others.
After that though, it's really up to the person - how they function, how they feel, how they identify personally.
If you notice all my posts I identify myself as Hoh/Deaf.
This is for a number of reasons including:
I have +120db deafness on one side, but mild/mod fluctuating HL on the other side.
Depending on the situation I can function anywhere from Hoh (in quiet areas & small groups I'm able to communicate via speaking and listening fairly well/reliably) however in other situations I am functionally deaf (background noise, large groups, if I have a flu/cold/illness I am unable to understand speech via listening at all).
Depending on whom I'm explaining things to, I'll sometimes say I'm Hoh - other times I'll say Deaf. I alter what definition I give based on the environment in which the question is asked. At the movies - when asking for a RWC reflector, I'm Deaf. When verbally asking for clarification someplace where I've already spoken, I say I'm "very Hoh" (and point to the hearing aid). When booking an ASL interpreter I'm Hoh/Deaf. If I meet someone that I'll be seeing again and have a long term, repeated interaction with I'll say that I'm "Hoh, but if there's background noise or a lot of people I can't understand anything so then it's like I am completely deaf" (then briefly explain how to communicate with me in the environment we're currently in and let them know I'll tell them when "the rules change lol")
Identity, linguistically , culturally, I have ALWAYS felt more Deaf (capital D) than Hoh. For me Signing - even though I didn't learn until adulthood - has always felt very natural to me (I started memorizing signs out of SEE & ASL dictionaries when I was about 7). I value and cherish ASL, Deaf culture, Deaf art (poetry, stories, painting, sculpture etc) and have always felt that even when I wasn't fluent in ASL being surrounded by Deaf people (hoh or deaf) was were I "belonged", where I felt the "most me".
I don't see being Hoh/Deaf as a disability - I see it as a linguistic, cultural and physical DIFFERENCE. The challenges I face as a Hoh/Deaf person are in most ways very similar to what a "short, visible racial minority, female, who's language is not that of the country is which she lives" is. The difference is that due to a physical condition I (personally) cannot learn to hear (ie learn the aural language of the country) so various communication tools exist to make communication easier (interpreters, TTY/TDD, relay services, CART etc).
I'm not sure if that helps at all ?
For me - I'll always be Hoh/Deaf ... "half and half" a little of BOTH - and that's OK, because it's who I am - and I LIKE me.