d/Deaf and hearing Loss community health profile

d/Deaf and hearing loss community health profile

Overview

The d/Deaf and hearing loss community health profile has identified and summarised the national and local evidence concerning the health, lifestyle behaviours and wider determinants of health that affect the d/Deaf and hard of hearing communities.

Although the focus of this report was health inequalities among d/Deaf and hard of hearing communities in Birmingham, the limited available information on health inequalities has resulted in data being used from the UK and internationally, where available.

Community definition

Within the d/Deaf community, capital D and lower-case d are used to categorise those with hearing loss conditions.

Capital D is used to represent those born Deaf or who experienced hearing loss before spoken language was acquired. Within the UK, Deaf individuals' primary language is usually British Sign Language (BSL), and they often perceive themselves as a part of a linguistic and cultural minority.

The lowercase d refers to the physical condition of hearing loss. People who identify as deaf don’t always have a strong connection to the rest of the d/Deaf community.

Hearing level range is based on the British Society of Audiology definitions of hearing loss:

  • Normal hearing: can hear sounds of less than 20dB
  • Mild: 20 to 40 dB of hearing loss (dB HL)
  • Moderate: 41 to 70 dB HL
  • Severe: 71 to 95 dB HL
  • Profound: over 95 dB HL

Population size

There is no reliable database which clearly outlines the size of the d/Deaf and hard of hearing population at a regional or national level. Population estimates are used and may not be fully representative.

England

  • Approximately 10.1 million adults have hearing loss of greater than 25 dB HL.
  • Approximately 1.2 million adults have hearing loss of greater than 65 dB HL.

Birmingham

  • Estimated 152,158 people with mild hearing loss of greater.
  • 15,920 people are registered as d/Deaf or hard of hearing.

Health and wellbeing

You can learn more about the health and wellbeing needs and the identified health inequalities of the d/Deaf and hard of hearing populations by reading the d/Deaf and hearing loss community health profile report.

The full profile report does not yet include analysis from the 2021 census. This will be updated at a later date.

Available resources

To support in your understanding of health inequalities among the d/Deaf and hard of hearing communities, we have produced several resources including:

View all d/Deaf and hearing loss community health profile downloads.

Webinar

Watch our webinar which provides a summary of the demographics and key health inequalities among the d/Deaf and hard of hearing populations community.

You can switch on subtitles once you have started to play the video. A menu will appear on the video screen. The webinar had BSL interpreters present, who are visible in the recording.

Page last updated: 8 April 2024

rating button