JJ...you have my sympathy....if you are deaf, you are just a pain in the neck, annoying unable to join in with the conversations BUT, if you are blind, you attract all the sympathy in the world because at least you can hear and join in with the topics of conversation.
If you are deaf it is almost certainly due to a nerve deafness and the treatment of this hasn't changed much over 100years....still a hearing aid. Cochlear implants ar limited only to a few specific sufferers.
If you can't hear what someone is saying.....they just raised their voice a few decibels and then keep raising their voice until they are shouting.........and that just makes things worse.
Deaf OR blindness? I would take blindness.