Prelingual deafness

A prelingual deaf individual is someone who was born with a hearing loss, or whose hearing loss occurred before they began to speak. Infants usually start saying their first words around one year. Therefore a prelingually deaf typically was either born deaf or lost their hearing before age one (the age when most hearing loss in children occurs). Congenital (present at birth) hearing loss is also considered prelingually , since a newborn infant has not acquired speech and language.