Deafness is a difference in sensory perception. Someone who is deaf may perceive some or none of these sounds: 

 

Speech.  The acoustic part of speech – how the voice sounds.  

 

Environmental sounds eg footsteps, doors opening, traffic, phones ringing, birds singing etc. 

 

Deaf people often become highly sensitive to the other elements of speech such as lip patterns, eye contact, facial expression, body posture and movement which we all use to help us understand what someone is saying. They may also become highly skilled at ‘reading to room’ to know how to act.