TERMIUM Plus®

The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank.

hearing impairment [1 record]

Record 1 2023-01-13

English

Subject field(s)
  • Hearing
  • The Ear
CONT

A person is said to have hearing loss if they are not able to hear as well as someone with normal hearing, meaning hearing thresholds of 20 dB [decibels] or better in both ears. It can be mild, moderate, moderately severe, severe or profound, and can affect one or both ears.

OBS

[hearing loss: The term "hearing loss"] is acceptable to describe an audiological phenomenon. It's ... the right term to describe a condition generally, as in "Hearing loss is becoming more common.", "A person with hearing loss" is acceptable.

OBS

Many of those with hearing loss agree that it's fine to describe a person as having a hearing impairment[,] but not to use "the hearing impaired" to describe a category of people.

OBS

Avoid wording such as "suffers from" or "afflicted by" that might imply that hearing loss is a hardship, illness, challenge or abnormality.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Ouïe
  • Oreille
CONT

La surdité est dite légère si la perte auditive est comprise entre 20 et 40 dB [décibels], moyenne si la perte auditive est comprise entre 40 et 60 dB, sévère si la perte auditive est comprise entre 60 et 80 dB, profonde si la perte auditive est supérieure à 80 dB.

OBS

[Il faut éviter] des formulations telles que «souffre de», «est atteint ou atteinte de» ou «est victime de» qui pourrait laisser entendre qu'une perte auditive est une épreuve, une maladie, un défi ou une anomalie.

OBS

[Le terme «perte auditive»] est [...] acceptable pour décrire un phénomène audiologique. Il s'agit du terme adéquat pour décrire un état de façon générale (par exemple, «la perte auditive est de plus en plus courante»). L'expression «une personne ayant une perte auditive» est également acceptable.

Key term(s)
  • atteinte de l'audition
  • perte de l'audition
  • déficience de l'audition

Spanish

Campo(s) temático(s)
  • Oído
  • Oreja
CONT

La pérdida auditiva puede ser el resultado de muchas cosas. Algunos tipos de disminución auditiva son temporales y otras son permanentes. La mayoría de los problemas de audición ocurren tan gradualmente que puede llevar un largo período de tiempo antes de que una persona se dé cuenta que no está escuchando correctamente.

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