According to the available studies and the Indian Census 2011, 73.9% of the deaf are unemployed or marginal workers, and 99% of the deaf population in the productive age group of 15–59 years are non-matriculates. If a handicap person is looking for work, it can be a daunting task for them as they may not know where to start.
Though the Government has reserved jobs for the deaf and handicap in Public Sector Undertakings, a Disability Certificate or a UDID card is required to apply for the job. This article will explain in detail the guidelines and the procedure to apply for a Hearing Disability Certificate.
Table of Contents
- Why Do We Need A Disability Certificate?
- Who Issues The Hearing Disability Certificate?
- Criteria for Disability Certificate in India
- How Is Hearing Disability Percentage Calculated?
- Hearing Loss Percentage Chart
- Hearing Loss Percentage Formula
- Hearing Loss Percentage Calculation
The Government of India has been constantly providing funds for the rehabilitation of the Hearing Handicapped. The popular ADIP Scheme (Assistance for the Disabled Persons) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment provides Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants at a subsidised rate or free of cost to children and adults from the low-income category. All the State Governments have Disability Schemes which are available at all levels including the District and village level.
Why Do We Need A Disability Certificate?
The benefit of the handicapped certificate is that the deaf candidate stands a higher chance of being selected for a job under the reserved quota. Jobs reserved under the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) quota require that the candidate should have a Hearing Disability Certificate. The Government and Public Sector undertakings have reserved a 4% quota for the disabled; the private sector is not far behind in offering jobs to the disabled, many IT companies and large hotel chains regularly employ the deaf and hard of hearing. Besides job reservations, the unique disability identity card helps in getting concessions for travel etc. The unique disability card is handy to carry and no other documents are required.
Candidates who are eligible as per the guidelines should apply for the handicapped certificate to avail the benefits.
Who Issues The Hearing Disability Certificate?
The Government appoints a Medical Board at the State and District level to issue the Disability Certificate.
The following professionals are authorised to certify the hearing disability or the speech and language disability for the issue of the UDID card or the Viklang certificate.
Medical Superintendent or Chief Medical Officer or Civil Surgeon
ENT Specialist
Audiologist and Speech Language Pathologist (ASLP)
The Government has made provisions for handicap certificate online registration; candidates can apply and renew UDID Card online.
The candidates should contact the issuing authority which is nearest to their place of residence for the unique disability card.
Do I Have To Provide Any Documents?
The candidate should carry their Aadhar card, Birth Certificate and the proof of residence. Previous audiogram reports and medical history papers will help in the assessment process.
What Is The Validity Of The Disability Certificate?
The PWD Certificate is valid for 5 years. The candidate should apply for the renewal of the viklang certificate online after the validity expiry.
The Medical Board issues the Hearing PwD certificate as per the definition of Hearing Disability specified in the Rights of the Persons with Disability Act 2016 (RPwD Act 2016)
What is Hearing Disability?
Persons with hearing impairment having difficulty of various degrees in hearing sounds is a hearing impaired person. A minimum hearing disability of 40% is considered eligible for the disability card and other facilities and concessions available.
Definition As Per The RPWD Act 2016
“Deaf” means a person having 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears.
“Hard of Hearing” means a person having 60 DB to 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears.
Criteria for Disability Certificate in India.
The following assessment tests are recommended as per the Rights of the Persons with Disability Act 2016 (RPwD Act 2016). The procedure requires calculating the hearing disability percentage by conducting pure tone audiometry and the Speech discrimination test and applying the formula mentioned in the guidelines.
The certificate is issued only if the disability is permanent.
1. Pure Tone Audiometry
Pure tone Audiometry test is conducted for each ear (Left and Right) to measure the hearing threshold.
In case the hearing test is not reliable, the audiologist will use other means like Immittance test (Impedance test), Speech audiometry or ASSR Test (Auditory Steady State Response) to measure the hearing threshold levels.
Infants do not respond well to pure tone audiometry and responses from children are often unreliable. In this case, the audiologist will conduct an ASSR test to measure the threshold.
How Is Hearing Disability Percentage Calculated?
The hearing disability percentage is calculated by taking the average of the pure tone thresholds at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz and applying the formula below:
Hearing Loss Percentage Formula
Hearing Disability Percentage = (Better ear % X 5) + (Poorer ear %) /6 (divided by 6)
Whenever there is no response at any of the four frequencies (500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, and 4000 Hz) then it is considered as equivalent to 95 dB loss for the calculations.
Note: to know the percentage of hearing disability for thresholds other than the ones mentioned in the chart below, please request for the copy of guidelines for evaluation of disability as per the RPWD Act 2016. The Pdf will be mailed to you. The Government gazette contains the detailed table.
Hearing Loss Percentage Chart
Click on this link to refer to the complete hearing disability chart.
What is 40% Hearing Disability?
40% hearing disability is the eligibility or the minimum hearing loss required to apply for the disability certificate or the UDID card. Persons having hearing disability of less than 40% cannot apply for the disability certificate.
Hearing Loss Percentage Calculation
How To Calculate The Hearing Loss Percentage?
Example 1
Mr A has a hearing loss of 60 dB in his left ear and 65 dB in his right ear.
Referring to the Hearing Loss chart above
60 dB hearing loss = 40%
65 db hearing loss = 48.55%
Let us insert these values in the formula
Hearing Disability Percentage=(40 X 5) + (48.55)=248.55/6= 41.42%
Mr A has a hearing loss of 41.42%, as per the RWPD 2016 guidelines, Mr A is eligible for the Disability Certificate as his hearing loss is above 40%.
Example 2
Mr B has a hearing loss of 55 dB in his left ear and 70 dB in his right ear.
Referring to the Hearing Loss chart above
55 dB hearing loss = 23%
70 db hearing loss = 57.10%
Let us insert these values in the formula
Hearing Disability Percentage=(23 X 5) + (57.10)=172.10/6= 28.68%
Mr B has a hearing loss of 26.68%, as per the RWPD 2016 guidelines, Mr B is not eligible for the Disability Certificate as his hearing loss is below 40%.
The easiest way to remember is that the hearing loss in the better ear should be equal or more than 60dB.
Is Hearing Loss In One Ear Considered A Disability In India?
As per the RPWD 2016 guidelines and the hearing loss percentage formula above, a hearing loss of less than 60 dB in one ear will not be considered eligible as the total hearing disability will be less than 40%.
2. Speech And Language Disability
The following conditions are considered as permanent disability and are eligible for the disability certificate or the Divyang certificate.
- Laryngectomy or aphasia affecting the speech components
- Glossectomy
- Bilateral vocal cord paralysis
- Maxillofacial anomalies
- Dysarthria
- Apraxia of Speech
The detailed procedure and calculation of percentage for Speech intelligibility test, voice test and language test are described in the Government gazette. (Visit our Helpline and request for the Pdf of the Government Gazette. Please specify preferred language – English or Hindi)
Readers can visit the site for more information on various schemes and information for the hearing impaired.
We regularly post updates on the schemes, benefits available and the current job openings in the Deaf Jobs section of our site.
EarGuru has compiled a list of the Organisations and Charities offering one-to-one support and personalised career advice to help deaf and disabled job seekers to prepare them for employment.
Organisations willing to employ Hearing Impaired people can write to us with details. We will be happy to post the vacancy on our website, this service is totally free.
