What do you know?

Question

about deaf people? x

can they actually not hear what so ever.. or can some of them hear?

Answer 1

Me. Haha

I have been profoundly deaf since birth but I can hear sounds with the help of my hearing aid. I cannot hear high pitches such as fire alarms unless I am standing right next to it.

I use my hands to communicate but I can write on paper to communicate with those who do not use sign language.

Deaf people use a lot of facial expressions also body language to get the message across to each other. We are more sensitive to vibrations that most hearing people would not have 2nd thoughts about.

Example: I would feel thuds or things falling or doors slamming but not always hear it. I can feel the music beats on the floor at parties but I like to say I can't just to avoid being dragged up on the dance floor!! haha

I have taught a few hearing friends how to sign and its great because we can communicate through a shopping window, underwater or in an extremely noisy place.

Also the bonus of sign language is it's almost universal language. I have met deaf people from all walks of life and their signs are similar although sometimes different. We get to understand what we are on about eventually.

I hope I have given you enough information here. You are welcome to ask me more questions. :-)

**Additional**
We do not use braille unless we are blind as well. We can hear sounds but not the words of a song, it is like some sort of 'muted' music.

I have a friend who is hard of hearing - she became deaf due to a childhood illness and she found it hard because what hearing she had she lost some of it and relys heavily on her hearing aids also visuals (lipreading and subtitles).

Hard of hearing - they usually go deaf later in life or in their childhood, they tend to have better speech because they have learnt how to say words and pick up sounds unlike a profoundly deaf person who has never heard those words or sounds at all.

Family and friends have adjusted and understand what I am saying most of the time without me using sign language but I still use sign language as my main language. English is my 2nd language.

My young kids have gradually picked up on sign language and they have benefitted from it at a very young age when they try to tell someone hearing what they want and they just mime to me (drinking - pretend you are a mime drinking from a cup) and things like that.

I'll shut up for now. haha

Answer 2

Deafness comes in various levels of hearing loss. Only a very small percentage of the deaf population is 100% deaf and cannot hear with hearing aids. I'm 80% deaf and can hear quite well with digital hearing aids. I can hear people calling my name from behind, can tell if it's my mother or sister, if it's female or male. I can tell the difference between a small dog barking versus a larger dog. I can hear many sounds of nature, the waves crashing the beach, the phone ringing, the door knocks, footsteps, accents, paper crumbling, and many more. I really do live in a hearing world made possible by hearing aids. They are powerful enough. The majority of the deaf do wear hearing aids and can hear with them on. It's just that without hearing aids, we are deaf. The only thing I can hear w/o them is if you scream at my ear, then I do hear it.

But what we cannot do, we cannot talk on the phone nor can we understand what you're saying if you're talking to us behind us. I can only recognize "hello", "How are you" without lipreading. Many of us do know how to speak and lipread. A small percentage of deaf people do not know and use sign language. I did not learn sign language until I was in my 20's. I've been speaking and lipreading my entire life. I understand about 90% of the hearing population that I interact with which is quite good odds.

Answer 3

There are different degrees of hearing loss in deaf people... some can hear fairly well, while some cannot hear much of anything at all. But don't let their speaking skills fool you. Some deaf people speak very well, but that does not mean they can hear just as well as they can speak.

Just FYI... the term "deaf and dumb" is rude and offending. I understand what people mean when they use it, but it only makes them look ignorant.

Answer 4

Some are completely deaf, & some can hear with hearing aids or they are hard of hearing. They use sign language for communication. They're culture is different than what you are used to. n

Answer 5

Well there's alot. ASL being their dominate language in the US. Their culture has been developing for the longest time, Galludet is the Deaf University in Washington DC, Cochlear Implants are wrong for children, oral communication should not be the first thing parents go to, the best way to teach deaf children is the Bi-Bi (Bicultural-Bilingual) approach thus using ASL to teach English and LOTS more

Answer 6

Quite a bit, I used to work at a day program with some deaf people, and they taught me sign language.

Answer 7

some people are only deaf in one ear....but if they are completly deaf that means they can't hear at all. or they could just be hard of hearing which means they can only hear a llittle! : )

Answer 8

Many are partially deaf so the hear a little, and rely on lip reading to help them understand.
If they are totally deaf they, read braille and lip read.

They can often make out the beat of percussion noises.
there are many aids they can get to help them with things like the phone ringing,such as a flashing light and and many other things...

Good question, sorry, poor answer

Answer 9

some people aren't totally deaf, but have a very hard time hearing so they'll still need hearing aids.

Answer 10

I know that they can dance by feeling the vibrations in the floor and the air; I've played dances at a school for the deaf.