Questions:

1. How much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in hearing someone talking in a normal voice from across the room?
2. How much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in hearing what is said in a conversation with some background noise?

Response categories:

1. None
2. Mild
3. Moderate
4. Severe
5. Extreme/Cannot Do

1. [Kathy] can hear what is said in a conversation with another person in a crowded room. She has no problems hearing a conversation between several people in the same room talking in a normal voice.
   
   
2. [Mary] can talk to one person at a time in a quiet room but struggles to follow the conversation when there are more people or when there is background noise.
   
   
3. [Jeremy] has no problems hearing someone on a one- to-one conversation if the room is quiet. If he is in a room with several people who are talking at the same time, he cannot make out what they are saying and has to repeatedly ask for clarifications.
   
   
4. [Jane] does not hear very well when people speak to her softly or from a distance. She has no problems having a normal conversation when she is near the person and when the level of the sound is slightly louder than usual.
   
   
5. [Sandra] is only able to hear with her right ear. She cannot hear anything with the left. She has no problems hearing what is said to her if the person she is talking to is on her right, and if there is no background noise.
   
   
6. [Paul] has lost hearing in the very high pitches because of his exposure to gun shots during his military training. He hears most sounds clearly except for the very high pitched ones such as birds singing.
   
   
7. [Daniel] is not able to make out what someone says to him in a normal voice from across the room. He is able to
   hear only when the person shouts. He can carry out a conversation with someone next to him.
   
   
8. [Ian] has gradually lost hearing for the higher pitched sounds. He has to ask for repetition often in order to follow a conversation. He is unable to understand people speaking to him from across the room.
   
   
9. [Tamsy] has a constant ringing in her ears. She can only ignore it when there are other noises around. She can carry out a conversation with people.
   
   
10. [Amanda] has diminished hearing in both ears. She has no problems communicating with others in a room if they
    speak in a loud voice. She has no problems watching television when the volume is turned up loud.
    
    
11. [Martha] usually hears sounds, but struggles to hear clearly when there is noise. She has to concentrate hard when she has a conversation in a noisy environment, and often mixes up words that sound similar.
    
    
12. [Marc] has been gradually losing his hearing in one of his ears. He cannot hear normal speech, and can barely hear someone who talks loudly near his ear. He relies heavily on lip reading. He is unable to hear the radio or the phone ringing.
    
    
13. [Jonathan] can hear sounds when they are quite loud but only in a distorted way. He confuses many of the sounds and sometimes has to ask people to write the words down or use gestures. He cannot understand when someone talks to him from across the room.
    
    
14. [Carol] has lost hearing in both ears for low, middle and high pitched sounds. She does not understand speech clearly.
    
    
15. [Patrick] cannot hear any sounds. He has to be very aware of watching what is going on around him in order to do things like crossing a street with traffic or to see if people are trying to talk to him.