Hearing impairment is the inability of an individual to hear sounds adequately. This may be due to damage or disease to any part of the hearing system or improper development in fetal state. Sense of hearing is an important link in the chain of effective communication and plays a significant role in our social and emotional well being. Millions of people worldwide are faced with hearing problems, only a minority wear hearing aids or even visit an audiologist. Hearing loss affects all age groups, without discrimination. Physiological changes that take place in hearing loss and is one of the most common causes for it.

Hearing loss does not only mean the inability to hear loud enough, it may also means a ‘discrimination loss’ i.e. difficulty in understanding and differentiating various speech sounds. Untreated hearing loss or delay in treating hearing loss can have far reaching effects like poor or no language development and learning disability in children.

Hearing problems often make it difficult to “keep up”, which can lead to a sense of isolation, fatigue and loneliness. Poor language acquisition due to hearing loss can often be misinterpreted as a lack of intelligence or mental deficiency usually affecting life at school and work, as well as social interaction. Hearing loss invariably affects quality of life.