Beginning of Essay
Successful interaction with patients who are deaf or hard of hearing requires an understanding of background issues, including the significance of the age of onset of deafness, the patient's choice of language, the patient's cultural identification and educationa ....

Middle of Essay
.... techniques and sources of further information. Guidelines for assessment of deaf and hard-of-hearing patients are provided in Table 1. Table 2 provides suggestions for conducting interviews with these patients. Illustrative Case A 60-year-old deaf woman, a native user of American Sign Language, presented as a new referral. During visits with her previous physician, she had always communicated by using her daughter as an interpreter. The referral physician arranged for a certified interpreter and then called the new patient (using the state's relay service) to inform her that an interpreter would be present during the office visit. The pat ....