hearing loss. When students suffer from severe hearing loss, they cannot speak in a way strangers understand. As they are hearing voices, they seem hearing shrill
noise in such extern loudness as burglar alarm. Therefore, the students need to look at the speaker because they communicate with signs and little speech.
Furthermore, students possibly suffer from profound hearing loss. To communicate, they use signs, lip reading, and writing because their speech is
impossible to understand. Meanwhile, as cited in Shagga 2011: 52, MMOML 2007 determines
the degree of deafness by measuring hearing threshold which is the level in dB at which a signal is just barely heard. The louder a sound must be made to be heard,
the greater the degree of hearing loss. The degrees of hearing loss are not the same in all over the world. However, there are general averages. NICHCY 2010
shows the general degrees of hearing loss as below.
Table 2.2 The General Averages of Hearing Loss Degrees
The Degrees of Hearing Loss From dB
To dB
Normal Hearing Sensitivity 15
Minimal Hearing Loss 16
25 Mild Hearing Loss
26 40
Moderate Hearing Loss 41
55 Severe Hearing Loss
56 70
So Severe Hearing Loss 71
90 Profound Hearing Loss
91 greater
Another classification is similar to the previous one, but it has different range. ASDC 2011 point out the degrees of hearing loss as shown in the next
table.
Table 2.3 Hearing Loss Degrees in Gaza
The Degrees of Hearing Loss From dB
To dB
Normal Hearing Sensitivity 25
Minimal Hearing Loss 25
40 Mild Hearing Loss
40 70
Moderate Hearing Loss 70
90 Severe Hearing Loss
90 110
It is clear from the three classifications there are some differences between the averages of the degrees. Nonetheless, in this study, hearing difficulty
is categorized into five categories, namely slight, mild, moderate, severe, and profound.
2.1.5.5 Communication Philosophies of Hearing Difficulty Learners
All learners with hearing difficulty have different communication and language needs. They use a variety of communication methods. The most
frequently used method is a combination of speech reading lip-reading and residual hearing, which is often amplified by hearing aids. It is important to note,
however, that speech reading is only a partial solution, since experts estimate that only about 30 to 40 percent of spoken English is distinguishable on the lips even
by the best speech readers under the most favorable conditions Allegheny College, 2012. Many learners with hearing difficulty can and do speak. They
have normal speech organs and have learned to use them through speech therapy. Some of them cannot monitor or automatically control the tone and volume of
their speech, so their speech may be initially difficult to understand. Understanding improves as one becomes more familiar with the deaf student’s
speech pattern. Another philosophy stresses on the auditory channel for communication
and the need to provide early amplification and intensive auditory stimulation in order to facilitate oral language development through listening Marschark,
2001:45. Meanwhile, the second or the alternative philosophy stresses the importance of vision as the communication channel and the importance of early
language development through signing. Proponents of a visual approach support the use of the sign language as the most accessible, clear and natural language for
the learners. The approach that uses the sign language as the language of instruction along with the spoken language through reading and writing is known
as the Bilingual Bicultural Approach Berent, 1996. For this study, a combination of speech reading and vision is proposed in
form of a computerized educational game. Here, the learners with hearing difficulty are assisted to learn English visually through speech reading
explanation.
2.1.5.6 Hearing Difficulty Learners and English Language
For learners with hearing difficulty who has English as a second language, it is not surprising if they are experiencing linguistic problems. SCIPS
