When Audiology Is Built Around Hearing Norms
Sometimes the contradiction is so normalised that people stop noticing it.
I've noticed how often audiology departments are designed around hearing professionals, despite serving Deaf people every day.
Audiology is often presented as a specialist service for people with hearing loss.
But many of the people using audiology services are Deaf children, Deaf adults, Deaf parents, and Deaf families.
People who use BSL.
People who need language access.
People whose experiences extend beyond hearing levels and technology.
Yet most audiology departments remain organised around hearing norms.
Most audiologists are hearing.
Few sign fluently.
Deaf representation within the profession remains limited.
And access often depends on interpreters, written communication, or Deaf people adapting to systems that were never designed around them.
This creates a contradiction.
The people providing the service are rarely expected to share the language or lived experience of the people receiving it.
In many professions, representation is recognised as valuable.
In audiology, it is often treated as optional.
The issue is not whether hearing professionals can provide good care.
Many do.
The issue is that Deaf perspectives remain peripheral within a service that exists largely because Deaf people exist.
When representation is absent, certain assumptions become invisible.
Hearing becomes the default.
Technology becomes the focus.
Communication becomes something to accommodate rather than something to centre.
And Deaf culture is often overlooked altogether.
This matters because healthcare is not only about clinical expertise.
It is also about trust.
Understanding.
Communication.
And the ability to feel recognised within the spaces designed to support you.
Imagine an audiology service where Deaf professionals were visible throughout the workforce.
Imagine BSL fluency being valued rather than exceptional.
Imagine Deaf culture being understood as part of professional competence rather than an optional extra.
Audiology should not require Deaf people to navigate hearing-centred systems in order to receive support.
If a service exists for Deaf people, Deaf perspectives should help shape it.
Not sit at its edges.
