Information on Michigan academic standards and instructional resources.
Responsible for providing final decisions in administrative appeals to MDE.
Learn more about the MDE office responsible for providing leadership in curriculum and instruction that provides students with greater choices to prepare for success.
Resources for educator certification, recognition programs, evaluation, and workforce research.
Resources related to financial and pupil accounting and auditing.
Options available for Michigan students that provide unique learning opportunities.
Food & Nutrition Programs
This MDE office provides resources and technical assistance in physical education, sex education, health education, behavioral, emotional, mental, and social education as well as safety, discipline, and transportation.
Resources for programs and initiatives that support school improvement efforts.
Resources for supporting special education in Michigan.
Michigan has an innovative and comprehensive system of assessments to measure student achievement in learning our state content standards.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Search is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
The web Browser you are currently using is unsupported, and some features of this site may not work as intended. Please update to a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Edge to experience all features Michigan.gov has to offer.
Every child’s journey is unique, and understanding your child’s hearing difference can help make decisions about language and communication opportunities. Hearing differences can be described by their type and degree.
The type of hearing difference depends on which part of the ear is involved. There are three main types: conductive, sensorineural, and mixed.
Hearing differences can affect one or both ears. Hearing differences can be stable or change over time. Here are some important terms:
Degree of hearing level describes how loud sounds need to be for your child to have access to hear them. Hearing levels are determined by hearing tests completed by an audiologist. Degrees are measured in decibels (dB), meaning the loudness of the sound. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association defines the levels ranging from slight to profound as follows:
The results of your child’s hearing test results are often shown on an audiogram. An audiogram is a graph that shows the softest sounds a person can hear at different pitches or frequencies (from low to high).
The closer the marks are to the top of the graph, the softer the sounds that person can hear. Where a person’s results fall on the graph shows the different degrees of hearing difference. The sample audiogram below helps show what the different degrees of hearing difference look like.
Hearing levels can affect access to spoken language.
| Slight |
Faint speech sounds may not be heard. Word endings and un-emphasized sounds may not be heard. Hearing from a distance takes effort. |
| Mild |
Soft sounds and some speech sounds may not be heard. Sounds that are moderately loud to a person with typical hearing will be soft. Hearing and understanding in a noisy environment or from a distance will be challenging. |
| Moderate |
Most speech sounds and louder sounds may not be heard. Sounds that are loud to a person with typical hearing will be soft. Speech can only be understood if it is loud. Monitoring errors in speech is challenging. |
| Moderately severe |
Most speech sounds and louder sounds may not be heard. Speech may be understood if it is loud and close. |
| Severe |
Most speech sounds will not be understood and louder sounds may be missed. Group conversations are challenging. |
| Profound | Sounds softer than 91 dB are not heard. |
Hearing differences can be hard to imagine until you hear them for yourself. Want to better understand how your child hears the world? Explore a hearing simulator to get a clearer picture of how sound can vary:
