All people experience some sort of hearing differently. They are among the nearly 36 million Americans who suffer from hearing loss; they face that experience differently on an individual level as well. There are some attempts, however, to standardize the process by which they are diagnosed and treated. One attempt is the demarcation into degrees: five of them to be precise, that of which the second most serious is known as “severe” hearing loss.

Audiologists generally test the degree of hearing loss by having the patient report on her ability to hear a range of sounds. The softer a sound the patient is able to hear, the better the hearing is whereas if the gentler sounds are not heard, the hearing is not as good and the loss of hearing is worse. Severe hearing loss is defined as the ability to hear sounds below 90 decibels but not below 71 decibels. If one can hear sounds below 71 decibels, the hearing loss is then categorized as “moderate.”

Those numbers are somewhat arbitrary cutoffs: human hearing ranges so widely it must be graphed on a logarithmic scale. Rather than iron-clad prophecies or as absolutes, hearing loss degrees should be looked at as guidelines. Somebody with severe hearing loss may have hearing closer to a person Cortexi who may be considered to have a loss of hearing which is moderate rather than those who have a severe hearing problem. We always have to keep in mind that these are guidelines and not absolute figures; if taken as absolute, it may just make the situation worse.etimes made into to a percentage in an attempt to more narrowly define what part of hearing remains. This is reserved for legal contexts where such strict definitions are necessary; generally, any type of diagnose or category used by medical hearing professionals such as an ENT or audiologist is used to help guide these professionals in creating a course of treatment that will help the patient most exactly thus benefitting them greatest whether it is a surgical procedure or simply prescribing a hearing aid that helps amplify the sound to more advanced medical procedures. The worst thing to do is to willingly ignore the problem as it continues to worsen to the point that there is no way to help and nothing can be done. Only then would the individual regret it and truly realize how tragic it it to lose their ability to enjoy hearing as well as possibly ruin their life.