I have a friend that I race with and also sometimes work on cars with that is near deaf and uses lip reading mostly to talk with you. Sometimes I forget because he acts as if he can really hear you that I do not look right at him and he says hey I cant hear you without reading you. He has been this way since birth and is one of the best people I know.
Does he not wear hearing aids CF? Some people don't wear them. When Jen was in school some of the kids would say "Take off your hearing aids. Aren't you proud to be deaf?" Jen told them yes but I don't want to make myself handicapped.