John M. Burkey

“The units of loudness employed to document the severity of a hearing loss are decibels hearing loss (dB HL). A person who can hear low decibel levels (−10 to 15 dB HL) is considered to have normal hearing. Someone having a slight hearing loss would not hear sounds until they reach 16 to 25 dB HL. Increasing in severity would be a mild loss (26 to 40 dB HL), a moderate loss (41 to 55 dB HL), a moderately severe loss (56 to 70 dB HL), a severe loss (71 to 90 dB HL), and a profound loss (91+ dB HL).1 All of the patients surveyed for this book had an average hearing level worse than 30 decibels in at least the better ear.”
― John M. Burkey, The Hearing-Loss Guide: Useful Information and Advice for Patients and Families