TV Show and Movies with Hearing Impaired Characters

In the television show Hawkeye, the main character, Clint, is completely deaf in one ear and requires a hearing aid in the other. His hearing loss was caused by the toll on his body from being a human Avenger. Later in the series he clarifies that he isn’t deaf but is hard of hearing.

In the Marvel comic books, the character has had a long and somewhat confusing history with deafness in the series. During the 1983 Hawkeye Vol. 1 #4 issue, Clint and fellow hero, Mockingbird, were forced to fight to the death after a villain invented a brainwashing sound frequency. The two heroes won the fight, but Client was left with hearing loss due to the encounter. He was given a pair of hearing aids at the end of the issue to help him hear better.

The film Baby Driver, focuses on the main character, Baby, who is a young getaway driver that lives with tinnitus. Tinnitus is the perception of sound when there is no external sound source. The most common sounds heard include ringing, buzzing or hissing. To combat the sounds of tinnitus Baby listens to music to drown out the sounds. 

The television show Switched at Birth  follows the story of two teenage girls. They were switched at birth and the show places a great emphasis on hearing loss and deafness. One of the main characters, Daphne, is deaf, having lost her hearing as a result of contracting meningitis at age three.

The creators notably made an entire episode of the show only using American Sign Language (ASL). Plus, many of the actors and actresses in the show are deaf or hard of hearing which helps create a more authentic experience for viewers.

The Oscar award winning film CODA follows the main character, Ruby Rossi, who is a child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of a deaf family. During the movie, Ruby tries to help her family's struggling fishing business while pursuing her own dreams of being a singer.

In the film A Star Is Born, Jackson Maine played by Bradley Cooper, is a country-rock musician who lives with hearing loss and tinnitus. During the film, the singer's brother urges him to wear hearing protection to help protect his hearing from getting worse. 

Many individuals find hearing aids beneficial in reducing their tinnitus symptoms. They can also help improve hearing, including when watching TV or movies at home.

The film A Quiet Place focuses on a family who must live in silence. They have to avoid dangerous creatures with ultra-sensitive hearing in a post-apocalyptic world. The family communicates in American Sign Language (ASL) to avoid making any noise which the creatures could hear.

The eldest daughter in the film, Regan, is profoundly deaf and wears a cochlear implant which she puts to extra use during the climax of the film.