Nearly nine million people in the UK experience some hearing loss. This represents one in seven of the adult UK population.
Learning to live with deafness can be a devastating experience. Many people say they lost their sense of security, confidence and independence when they lost their hearing. Deafness is an invisible disability and can lead to isolation and loneliness as people withdraw, finding it increasingly hard to communicate.
Around 70,000 people communicate using British Sign Language (BSL). They tend to have been profoundly deaf since birth and may have little or no speech, but the vast majority of deaf people rely on lip-reading and hearing aids. View our communication tips to see how you can make it easier for a deaf person to lip-read you.
More than half a million people have profound or severe hearing loss - and could potentially benefit from having a hearing dog. Find out how a hearing dog can transform a deaf person’s life by reading our recipients’ stories
A hearing dog is a registered assistance dog and as such should be allowed access to public places under the new Disability Discrimination Act.
Did you know?.. It's Learn to Sign Week from 2 to 9 October.
