Mild, moderate, severe and profound hearing loss
A person’s hearing loss is categorised as being either mild, moderate, severe or profound. Audiologists and other hearing professionals use these terms; the four types of hearing loss are defined as follows:
- Mild means that the person is unable to hear sounds between 20dB and 40dB
- Moderate means that the person is unable to hear sounds between 41dB and 70dB
- Severe means that the person is unable to hear sounds between 71dB and 95dB
- Profound means that the person is unable to hear sounds below 95dB
You can have a look at decibel levels of common sounds to get an idea of what sounds a person with each kind of loss will, or will not, be able to hear.
