What can I do in preparation for deafness?

I have resently been toled that I shall be deaf within the next two years, my inner ears are damaged.

i will try to advise you a little firstly there are lots of aids that are avadible to help deaf people appart hearing aids, these i am assuming would be of little help to you as i asume you have siscused this with your audiologist. my Dad has some vey good digital ones that can be re tuned as hearing deterarates ask your practioner about these if you have not allredy. you could learn sign language be it BSL british sign language or ASL which is used in the USA i would reccomend this even though it can be hard i am BSL stage one and find it usefull for basic comunication some of the emergency signs such as help and fire alarm are good to know as well as the manual alphabet which is ralatevley easy you can lern it with your family or friends and it will help you communicate latter as your hearing weresons i somtimes sign when i am in noisy places and as i have a stammer when i am having problems communicating my name.

you can have a flashing light atached to your door bell so when it rings the light will flash simmerly with your phone you could get a device could a minicom that allows you to type your message into a phone if memory servs me if you are in the uk there is a service called type talk that traslats what you say into text and vice versa many orgnisations have designated minicom lines so you can converse with staff directly some celeulor phone componys also offer special rates for deaf people to enable them tou use sms messaging. where is also im and email but as you have found your way to answers you are familier with both of these you can allso get a pillow alarm that can be conected to house smoke allarm and used as alarm clock hope this is of use to you pleese excuse my spelling as am dyslexic

good luck

learn to lip read. my cousin found it very handy and also register with a disability committee in your area so that you know where to always get help.

Get some ear plugs these will lessen the noise you here so it won鈥檛 be too traumatizing when you do loose your hearing permanently.

Good luck.

learning sign language wud b a gud start and listen 2 as much music as possible.

maybe enrole on a bsl course and get family members to do so to so that when the unfortunate does happen you already have another way to communicate

Learn BSL and lip-reading, remember that the world hasn't ended - you can still email, sms text, watch TV, etc, and also that, compared to those that were born deaf, you've had the opportunity to hear the world.

Learn to lip read. You can speak so you won't need signing to communicate, but you may want to at least learn the alphabet in sign so another deaf person can communicate with you - because you will probably find you self socializing or at least knowing more deaf people once you join the group. Good Luck

Listen to all your favourite songs and such one last time before it goes for good.

I am very sorry to hear that. My boyfriend has total loss of hearing in his left ear and only 60% hearing in his right ear. One thing that I would recommend is you start watching peoples lips when they talk. learn to read lips by asking those that you talk with to speak slowly and clearly. Also start learning sign language. I use sign language sometimes with my boyfriend. It is a total change of life but I am sure you will adjust.

i think u should go out and hear as many different and amazing sounds u can like visiting niagra falls or listen to as much music as you can ,be alot more conscious of how you speak how you say words as you know speech starts to go as you cant hear what your saying and like somebody else said learn how to lip read and sign language easier now ,hope eveything go's ok for ya laterz

http://www.british-sign.co.uk/

learn to sign & lip read as suggested by above writers, bear in mind that if you learn sign , its slightly different in USA & other countries if you go abroad.
Have you looked into possibility of a choclea implant , might be worth asking your consultant/GP .( not ^^^^ sure if thats spelt right)

Learn sign language and to lip read also, as there are a lot of ignorant people out there who can't even be bothered to speak up or speak clearly !.

You can still live a perfectly normal life. I have moderate hearing loss in both ears it was noticed ever since I was 3 years old and now I'm 18 got a good education and I'm at university. Learning to lip read will be good, every time I can't hear something I always lipread. I also have friends who live their life as normal people do even tho they have a hearing loss.
As of now I don't know BSL (British sign language), because my speech was fine and my I was coping well with my hearing loss but I aim to learn BSL in future it'll be good for my future being able to communication with people who have a hearing loss. As you said your inner ears are damaged it doesn't sound like you'll be completely deaf you just might miss out a hearing a few things, but you should be fine.
Maybe you should see your GP who might be able to forward you to an Audiologist who can advise you or they'll be able to explain exactly what may happen within the next two years.
Even better try meeting a few people with hearing loss and see how they cope and what resources are available to them.
Take care xx

When I started loosing my hearing due to menieres I went on a lip reading course which was taught by a lady who just woke up one day and had totally lost her hearing. As I loose more of my hearing I have got in the habit if getting friends and family members to remember to stay in clear view of me, not cover their mouth and keep talking and turn their heads away. BSL is of little use unless you want to live entirely in the deaf community and frustrating as hell to learn with its topsy turvey grammar system (SSL- sign supported English makes way more sense to those of us born hearing with acquired deafness).
I'm not sure that we can ever prepare ourselves fully but we can make those around us aware and drill them in not taking our continued good hearing for granted.It may be that various hearing aids may give you, like me, some degree of hearing even if using bone conductivity so do enquire as to the possibilities

I have 2 hearing aids, and am partially deaf in two ears. I was advised by my consultant to go to speech therapy and lip reading classes, as he said that I will be completely deaf in eight years time.
My hearing aids are wonderful, I could not be without them, and I don't even realise that I have them, they are so comfortable.

Learn to lip read and learn signing. If you practice now, you should be good at both by the time you really need it!

sorry , could you repeat that ?