Written by RachaelMole

Deafness, a disability well known as a cliché character. But what is deafness? And how can we, as writers, aim to provide our readers with a realistic character.

Like most disabilities, there is a wide spectrum of how a person may be affected with deafness. It can be mild, moderate or severe. Some people can hear the noise around them, but may struggle when someone is talking to them. Others can hear nothing at all.

A hearing aid can often help those with mild or moderate hearing loss, and lip reading comes in handy to make sure you are understanding people. Though people who were born deaf find lip reading much harder, as they are unable to differentiate between lip movement and the sound it makes.

For those who are completely deaf, they learn a language called sign language. It is a full, comprehensive language but rather than speaking it, it is hand gestures and symbol based- though sadly sign language isn't the same all over the world! American Sign Language (below) is very different to British Sign Language!

There is a difference between hearing loss, and deafness. Hearing loss is a partial loss, whereas deafness is when you can't understand speech even when it is amplified. Profound deafness is when you can't hear anything at all.

Prelingual deafness is deafness before speech could be developed in early life. In most cases, it is not hereditary, so the parents don't have it.

Is there a treatment for deafness?

Well, in some cases, people can have a cochlear implant. This is a device that gathers sound from the environment around the person and transmits that sound through electric impulses into the brain, basically doing the job a functioning ear should do.

If they have it 'installed' before they are four years old, then they will be able to learn to speak.

There is so much more I could say on the subject, as there are many distinct types of deafness. So, if you have any questions, leave me a comment below and I will try to answer as many as I can for you!