Hardness of Hearing

A hearing impairment is a decrease in one’s ability to hear. The degree of hearing impairment varies from a slight decrease in the hearing ability to severe hearing disabilities; as a consequence, the people concerned depend on hearing aids and visual information. If they cannot hear despite the use of hearing aids (especially language), one speaks of a remaining hearing ability or Deafness (see glossary:
Deafness).
Depending on the severeness of hearing impairment, the following classification is commonly used:
Mild loss 20-40%
Moderate loss 40 -60 %
Severe loss 60-80%
Remaining hearing ability 80-95%
Deafness 120%

Generally it is estimated that 10 percent of a country’s population is hearing impaired (for example, about 700.000 hearing impaired people are living in Switzerland).
equalizent respects this target group’s needs, for example by technical adaptation of rooms. Those rooms are equipped with so called induction hearing loops. The group of hearing impaired people is very diverse, therefore the courses for this target group are mainly integrative courses, which means that hardness of hearing is respected, but not only the people concerned work together in one group. Even in the field of individual schooling (see also glossary: individual schooling) there have already been positive responds, that 1:1 training is a very good way to address individual needs accordingly.