about us

[sonus] is the trading name of Hampshire, isle of White and Channel Islands Association for Deaf People. The organisation was founded in 1879 and has been providing a variety of services to deaf people ever since.

Our Vision

Facilitating for deaf and hard of hearing people to take their place as respected and confident members of the wider community, able to pursue opportunities, make informed choices and achieve their potential.

Our recent use of the name [sonus] reflects our desire to: 

• Value our historical roots
• Promote our integrity; [sonus] is Latin for sound which in addition to the sense of hearing, can mean security and well founded
• Remove geographical barriers to allow for expansion and to enable us to work in neighbouring Countries where there is a need for services
• Use our name as our logo included in the brackets which denote the barriers that deaf people face, the banding together of the deaf community and is taken from ‘Words in Hand’ – a structural analysis of the signs of British Sign Language to denote the final hand shape of a BSL sign
• Remove the word deaf in order to include a wider range of people with a hearing loss
• Use the colour and typeface to promote [sonus] as an attractive company with a modern outlook

Our Mission

[sonus] exists to provide opportunities for deaf, deafened, deaf-blind and  hard of hearing people to have equal access to all sectors of the local communities. [sonus] also ensures that its services are developed in response to the views, ideas and opinions of Deaf, deafened, deaf-blind and hard of hearing people.

Staffing and Structure

[sonus] has a committed team of over 50 paid and unpaid staff consisting of deaf and hearing people who bring their range of knowledge, skills and experience to enrich the services offered.