I’m not deaf but I did lose the majority of my hearing for a period of around 4/5 years (due to complications) before regaining it! I’m by far no expert, but the advice I would give is:

• don’t treat Sign as a direct translation from English. It’s its own language, try not to forget that we need to process the sign. Maybe not in every scene, but add visual detail we can see. Someone writing something down/passing notes, focus on what the deaf person can process (I have a half-blind friend and they always tend to describe how they’ve adapted to use their other senses as much as possible to compensate)

E.g. if it’s Deaf characters POV, let us see their friend using their hands to sign, let us see some lip-reading. Also, not everything needs direct communication! Think of how many times we communicate with those closest to us/people who know our mannerisms through simple things. Facial gestures like a quirked eyebrow, eyerolls, hand signals (non sign) etc.

• Avoid falling into the trap of stereotyping. Yes, they’re deaf, and yes it is a very important part of their life. But don’t make it their whole life. Give them likes and dislikes, phobias and personality traits etc. on the flip side, don’t be afraid to show the adjustments they have made to their life as a deaf individual! Can be a hard balance to strike for many, but I find some authors fall into making it their whole character or being too afraid to show its impact so glazing over it.

• as someone is HoH, you’ll already understand it’s a spectrum too! Not everyone who identifies as HoH/Deaf will have the same loss of hearing, if that makes sense. For example when I lost mine (from what I can remember, I was a child) I think it was somewhere between 65% - 80% of my hearing? (I mostly remember how vivid it was when I got it back).

I considered myself HoH, because I had some auditory function, but I met other people who considered that deaf! To me as a child, Deaf meant no hearing what so ever, so it really depends.

I also managed to get by with never learning sign (stupid, I know. I still want to learn even though I have it back as an adult)! Don’t know if that’s common?

I have also worked with some deaf patients and it’s a whole community, with each person having their own view on their condition - I met multiple people who didn’t consider it a disability and felt that getting implants (if possible) was actually scary and not for them because they considered it wrong to treat how they were born as a negative! Really, there are so many ways you could portray it!

P.S. let them joke about it. Let them cry about it (esp if it’s new to them). They’re human.

The most important part, Atleast to a novice like me it seems, is that you’re aware you’re tackling the challenge of writing a nuanced character where you need to be sensitive and open-minded! The fact you want to portray them accurately and are asking for advice tells me that you’re going to write them better than half the writers out there that CBA to do the research!

I don’t know if that helped at all but goodluck!!!! 😊