What is Deaf Education?
Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing have been taught
to speak for several centuries but many do not have this
opportunity because of the lack of qualified professionals.
In Deaf Education and Hearing Science you will be trained
in special techniques to help children learn to listen and
speak using the latest in hearing 
technology.
Deaf Education and Hearing Science prepares professionals to work with children with hearing loss in a setting that emphasizes listening, speech and language. The emphasis is on the development of listening skills without the use of sign language. This approach is known as “Auditory-Oral” or “Auditory-Verbal” education.
Opportunities for specialists in deaf education and hearing science
Hearing loss is the most commonly diagnosed “disability”
among newborns. Nationally, 3-4 in every 1,000 children
are born with a
hearing loss. Very rarely, however, is deafness total; the
great majority of newborns with hearing loss have some trainable
residual hearing. When given appropriate equipment, these
infants can detect many of the sounds of speech and have
the same opportunities as hearing children to develop listening,
language, speech and reading skills. These opportunities
will not happen without qualified teachers. As technological
breakthroughs allow children with severe and profound hearing
loss to hear sound, skilled teachers are critical to helping
children make sense of this sound and use it to learn to
speak.
Teaching placements are available at all age levels. The
need increases every year for caring professionals to teach
every child with hearing loss to listen and talk. Hospital
screenings at birth have led to more infants being identified
with hearing loss. Deaf education is considered an area
of critical shortage, meaning that each year there are jobs that go unfilled. 
You will find career possibilities for helping children in homes, clinics, regular schools, and special schools. These settings include:
- family-oriented therapy services for infants and toddlers,
- preschool or elementary classrooms,
- individual therapy sessions or
- helping children succeed in the mainstream (providing services that enable students to participate in the regular class work and courses that you took in school).