Deaf usually refers to a hearing loss so severe that there is very little or no functional hearing. Hard of hearing refers to a hearing loss where there may be enough residual hearing that an auditory device, such as a hearing aid or FM system, provides adequate assistance to process speech.

What can cause deafness?

Some causes of hearing loss in adults include:Otosclerosis. This is a middle ear disease. Ménières disease. This is an inner ear problem. Autoimmune inner ear disease. Ototoxic medications. Very loud noise. Acoustic neuroma. Physical head injury. Presbycusis.

Is it OK to say someone is deaf?

“Deaf” and “deaf” We use the lowercase deaf when referring to the audiological condition of not hearing, and the uppercase Deaf when referring to a particular group of deaf people who share a language – American Sign Language (ASL) – and a culture.