New technologies, early intervention practices and hearing tests for babies has seen the rise of a new generation of 'hard of hearing' people who are physically deaf but identify with the hearing culture. Credit: TamiDeSellier (iStockphoto)

Not all people who experience a degree of hearing loss can be categorised as 'deaf', writes Jillian Ash.

It has become inaccurate to assume that all people who have any degree of hearing loss can only be categorised as 'deaf'.

Thanks to advancing technology, improving early intervention practices, and the implementation of newborn hearing screen tests, we are seeing a growing, new generation of 'hard of hearing' people - those who are physically deaf but identify as belonging to the hearing culture.

I am one of those people. Born with rapidly deteriorating hearing loss, I was fitted with hearing aids at 14 months and a cochlear implant at age 9. Bedtime stories involved my parents giving me speech therapy lessons. I went to a mainstream school where I was the only hearing impaired student. I had no knowledge of, or exposure to, sign language or the Deaf culture. As such, I identify myself as belonging to the hearing community.

We don't require the full breadth of services on offer for Deaf people such as sign language interpreters or the Disability Support Pension. Yet we still face challenges and require support every now and then to enable us to confidently and fully capitalise on the opportunities available to everyone in the hearing culture.

I wouldn't be the first to admit that being hearing impaired is no walk in the park. Background noise can often be our worst enemy. We sometimes struggle with social isolation. We are wholly reliant on technology; nothing worse than your cochlear implant batteries running out during an important work meeting or first date! However, on the flipside, it can also provide a convenient escape route for certain situations. I've lost count of the number of times I used the excuse that my batteries had died to get out of detention and certain sporting events at school.

While we can play sport, pursue higher education, speak other languages or play musical instruments just like our hearing peers, we still face a number of barriers. For instance, most of us have to rely on subtitles to be able to fully comprehend the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Having travelled broadly throughout the world, I can confidently say that Australia is far behind other developed nations in providing widespread closed captioning on television and in cinemas. Also, some train stations here do not provide captioned announcements, making us particularly vulnerable to missing trains as we are unable to follow loudspeaker broadcasts. In addition, some service providers offer customer support only via telephone, which some of us struggle with.

Perhaps the greatest barrier we face, however, is the common assumption that people can only be either Deaf or have perfect hearing. It doesn't help that cochlear implants and hearing aids are getting smaller and more easily concealed, which actually makes it difficult for others to identify that we have a hearing loss. While it is sometimes rewarding that most people don't recognise that I have a hearing loss - as it demonstrates that the hard work of my audiologists, listening and spoken language therapists, teachers and parents are paying off - it does make me more vulnerable to being disadvantaged in certain situations as people assume that I can hear just like them.

On the other hand, I've experienced instances where people assumed I am fluent in sign language and require services available for Deaf people. For example, I volunteer for an organisation providing mentoring services to hard of hearing teenagers. During a workshop, we conducted a field trip to provide a demonstration of the support services offered at a local university. We were scurried into a class and at the front was a sign language interpreter hard at work interpreting the lecture. But while the four teenagers I was with all had a hearing loss, none of them knew sign language. To compound the confusion, the Professor then presented a short video, but it had no subtitles. The whole experience made me realise that there are misperceptions around the needs and identity of hard of hearing people.

The combination of technological advancements, early intervention and newborn screening practices has broken down the traditional categorisation of people with hearing loss as simply 'deaf'. Today, a new generation of 'physically deaf, culturally hearing' individuals are able to thrive and contribute at every level to society, albeit with tailored support.

Jillian Ash is a graduate social scientist and a PhD Candidate in Social Planning and Development at the University of Queensland. She is currently based in Suva, Fiji, while she undertakes an internship at the United Nations.