What is a psychosocial approach to hearing loss?

A psychosocial approach to hearing loss spans individual, contextual, and historical circumstances affecting the experience of impaired hearing. Assumptions about hearing impairment and its remediation are considered, and emphasis is given to the features that promote the undesirability of the status of being hearing impaired. Two current models for rehabilitation are noted; their assumptions are discussed in the light of both the preceding analysis and of empirical findings which suggest attention needs to be focused on individual issues.