§ 36-1941 — Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Commission" means the commission for the deaf and the hard of hearing.

2. "Deaf" means a person who cannot generally understand speech sounds with or without a hearing aid when in optimal listening conditions.

3. "Deafblind" means a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, who has a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lenses, or a field defect such that the peripheral diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance not greater than twenty degrees, or a progressive visual loss having a prognosis leading to one or both of these conditions, and for whom the combination of the hearing and vision loss described affects the person's ability to communicate and receive environmental information both visually and auditorily.

4. "Hard of hearing" means a person who has a degree of hearing loss greater than 40dB PTA-2, but less than 85dB PTA-2, in the better ear.

5. "Interpreting" means translating or transliterating English concepts to any necessary specialized vocabulary used by a consumer or translating a consumer specialized vocabulary to English concepts.

6. "Necessary specialized vocabulary" includes American sign language, English based sign language, cued speech and oral interpreting.

7. "PTA-2" means the average of hearing levels at one thousand, two thousand and four thousand Hz.