MYTH: All hearing losses are the same.

FACT: The single term "deafness" covers a wide range of hearing losses that have very different effects on a person's ability to process sound, and thus, to understand speech.

MYTH: All deaf people are mute.

FACT: Some deaf people speak very well and clearly; others do not because their hearing loss prevented them from learning spoken language. Deafness usually has little effect on the vocal chords, and very few deaf people are truly mute.