what can I do in preparation for deafness?

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.