ABSTRACT
It is a common error to minimize the psychological effects of a moderate hearing loss as merely quantitatively less than that of deafness, assuming that being hard of hearing is simply “less deaf” or that it is “almost hearing.” On the other hand, as Ashley (1985) stated, it is also common for the hearing public to use the word deafness as an umbrella term to cover all forms of hearing loss. Although there are approximately 14 to 17 million hard-ofhearing persons in the United States (Schein & Delk, 1974), training programs, workshops, and large conferences purporting to address issues of “deaf and hearing-impaired persons” too often solely address issues of profound deafness (Diedrichsen, 1987; Schein & Stone, 1986).
