Deaf

Deafness was a condition characterized by partial or complete inability to hear.
==Causes==
An injury to one's ear could cause partial deafness, while a serious injury to both could cause total deafness, Injuries included a broken ear drum and a burn, electric shock, or vibration to the head. Some forms of magically induced madness could also make a creature deaf. Commonly, deafness was also associated with old age.
Loud noises could cause temporary or permanent deafness, such as those emitted by thunderstones, various loud spells like shout, a serious blow from a decastave, and magic items like a horn of blasting, drums of deafening, and a staff of thunder and lightning. The incessant screaming winds of Pandemonium deafened all creatures there; less than a minute of exposure was enough to cause temporary deafness for up to an hour after escaping, but a full day caused permanent deafness. Naturally, a high percentage of the residents of the Madhouse in Pandesmos were deaf.
Some spells might also make a creature deaf, with the spell deafness an obvious example that directly caused complete and permanent hearing loss. Others indirectly caused a temporary loss of hearing by creating a loud noise, such as shout. Similar spells were dictum (only non-lawful beings), word of chaos (only non-chaotic beings), holy word (only non-good beings), and unholy word, and the general divine word, as well as storm of vengeance. Finally, by nullifying all sound, a silence spell made beings effectively deaf while within its effect.
Finally, spells and magical effects that let one scry on another location or borrow another creature's senses could leave the caster oblivious to their own surroundings, including rendering them effectively deaf, for the duration. Conversely, a scrying sensor could still function even for a deafened caster.
==Effects==
Being deaf limited one's awareness, so a deaf creature could be slower to react to surprises and the start of battle and was vulnerable to ambush. Moreover, a deaf spellcaster might mispronounce their verbal components, causing their spells to miscast and fail. Similarly, a deaf bard might be unable to play their magical music. 
On the other hand, a deaf creature could be resistant or immune to spells that must be heard to take effect, such as dissonant whispers and the power word line of spells, as well as the entrancing songs of harpies and the deafening roars of monsters like the androsphinx. In fact, the staff of silence could invoke magical deafness on its bearer specifically for this purpose, protecting them against permanent physical deafness.
==Treatment==
Some forms of deafness could be cured with spells like cure deafness or remove deafness, which restored the ability but did not heal or regrow diseased or lost ears and other auditory organs. Healing spells like lesser restoration and heal could also have this effect.
A potion that cured deafness required powdered brandeen (a gem) mixed with fresh hardwood sap and a message spell cast upon it, the message being made up of only vowel sounds. The potion could not be exposed to sunlight and had to be consumed within twenty-four hours or it spoiled.
An ear horn could aid in hearing when put to one's ear. The magical ear horn of hearing eliminated deafness while used.
It was also possible to have a hearing-ear animal, which would warn its deaf owner of dangers and alert them to audible signals and other events around them. Marigold's Menagerie in Ravens Bluff trained service animals for this and similar purposes.
People with long-term hearing loss could learn to adapt, and might get used to or even overcome some of the disadvantages. After becoming comfortable with the condition, a deaf person might object to being unwillingly cured of their deafness. For example, they might not like the noise they'd then have to endure. However, long-term and life-long deafness could also lead to difficulties in speaking and even muteness.
To prevent damage to hearing caused by loud noises, ear plugs and the like could be used, but did themselves hinder hearing.
==Society==
Especially when alongside muteness, deaf people could struggle to communicate and express their needs. To communicate, a deaf person might depend on lip reading, writing messages on slate boards, hand gestures, or using a sign language. Sign languages known in the Realms were Common Sign Language (which shared signs and vocabulary with thieves' cant), thieves' cant itself (employing hand gestures alongside coded language). Drow Sign Language (also known as drow silent tongue), Malatran sign language (developed from signals used by hunters), Harpspeak (used for secret communication by the Harpers), and Draconic sign language (employing movements of jaw, claws, and wings), while the deaf Waterdhavian street urchin Nat devised her own sign language to communicate with her friends. Non-deaf people speaking to them might raise their voice or even shout to be heard.
People born with disabilities such as deafness, muteness, and others were viewed by a number of faiths in Faerûn as "godstruck", that is, as holy people sent by the gods to test others by how they treated them. If true, this was a test that many failed. Those parents who were unwilling to raise a godstruck child would leave them at a monastery, where the priests were rarely likely to be cruel. They raised the child, taught them the faith, and had them do chores. Beyond these areas, many unfortunate disabled folk did fall into begging, drudgery, freak shows, and prostitution.
In the Elfsong Tavern in Baldur's Gate, deaf people were advised not to make noises when the haunting elven song was heard, a time when other patrons fell silent to listen to it.
A drow-run bathhouse and massage parlor called the Silken Rack in Menzoberranzan kept deaf-mute human slaves.
==History==
The Netherese arcanist Cragh was born deaf in and was unable to speak as a result, communicating instead via a sign language. Nevertheless, he studied to become a gifted mentalist and the greatest archwizard of Northreach, well respected by his peers and named "dwarf-friend" by the dwarves of Ascore. He learned to cast most spells without verbal components, and spoke only rarely for those that he could not. He developed the deafness spell in , then known as Cragh's deafness.
The infant Tira was abandoned at the Hand of Mercy Children's Hospital and Orphanage in Ravens Bluff around 1362 DR, after being found to have born deaf. Because of her special needs, people looking to adopt always passed over her in favor of other, easier children. She learned simple signs to express basic needs, but had no way to communicate more complex information. Fortunately, by age 8, the renegade drow Valandrin Telenna, nicknamed "Dusk", had begun tutoring her in Drow Sign Language. She also received a hearing-ear dog, named Bounder, from Marigold's Menagerie.
A medusa without ears, and therefore potentially deaf, dwelling in a cave in the Storm Horns foothills was reported to have been sighted by a mushroom hunter of Minroe, Cormyr, in the . As the people of Minroe had shriekers guarding their village, they feared the medusa would slip past their defenses, and so sought someone to slay the deaf medusa.
In the , Elminster appeared unannounced at the Midwinter meeting of the Dales Council and complained that if the people of Archendale were not even going to hear envoys bringing criticisms of their mass logging activities, then he should turn all Arkhenfolk wholly deaf. When a minor Arkhen mage disputed the possibility, Elminster used his Art to deafen the man, only restoring his hearing after protests from the representative Sword of Archendale.
==Known Deaf People==
* Pecal el Saiduwm, high priest of the Khanduq of the Coinmother in Calimport, who heard only the voice of the goddess Waukeen.
* Ghorso, an aged duergar smith working in the Terminus Level of Undermountain. He used an ear horn.
* Jork Marpe, the old proprietor of The Mappers' Workshop in Ravens Bluff.
* Elliach, a mage of the Wandering Emporium in Avernus, left deaf after his ears grew wings and flew off.
* Zeltabbar Iliphar, a sage of Waterdeep, completely deaf but able to perfectly lip read many languages and writing messages on slates.
* Qureyoon, a partially deaf old azer doorkeeper at the Palazzo of the Blue Horse in the City of Brass; visitors had to shout the names of those they were visiting, thus announcing themselves anyway.
* Drystan, deafened by self-inflicted injuries following fiendish torture and exposure to the Howling Pits.
* Pag Hou Ling, sheriff of Chophon in Tabot, left deaf in one ear after exposure to a spell.
* Cragh, a deaf-mute Netherese arcanist and creator of the spell deafness.
* Tira, an orphaned deaf-mute girl in Ravens Bluff who was born deaf, had a hearing-ear dog, and learned Drow Sign Language.
* Marble Spulzeer, a deaf-mute daughter of the Spulzeer, abused and slain by her family, turned a ghost haunting Castle Spulzeer.
* Madame Iyvdanya, a half-deaf fortune teller based in Skullport.
* Orrin Glass, one of the Avowed of Candlekeep, who was deaf in one ear.
* Ertgard, a deaf old frost giant at Grimskalle.
* Ompahr Daergech, an elderly, nearly deaf gnome high priest of Baravar Cloakshadow.
* Nat, a street urchin girl of Waterdeep, who devised her own sign language to communicate with her friends.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Disabilities