Notable Deaf people are typically defined as those who have profound

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spo ...

in both ears as a result of either acquired or congenital hearing loss. Such people may be associated with

Deaf culture Deaf culture is the set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values, and shared institutions of communities that are influenced by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as ...

. Deafness (little to no hearing) is distinguished from partial hearing loss or damage (such as

tinnitus Tinnitus is a condition when a person hears a ringing sound or a different variety of sound when no corresponding external sound is present and other people cannot hear it. Nearly everyone experiences faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely ...

), which is less severe impairment in one or both sides. The definition of deafness varies across countries, cultures, and time, though the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

classes profound hearing loss as the failure to hear a sound of 90

decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

s or louder in a hearing test. In addition to those with profound hearing loss, people without profound hearing loss may also identify as Deaf, often where the person is active within a Deaf community and for whom

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

is their

primary language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

. Those who have mostly lived as a hearing person and acquire deafness briefly, due to a temporary illness or shortly before death, for example, are not typically classed as culturally Deaf.

Deaf educators and organizers

* Ferdinand Berthier, French intellectual, published several articles, first Deaf person to receive the French Legion of Honour, founder of world's first deaf organization * Julia Brace (1807–1884), early American DeafBlind student at the Hartford School for the Deaf * Laura Bridgman, (1829–1889), American, first DeafBlind student of Dr. Samuel Howe at the Perkins School for the Blind *

Teresa de Cartagena Teresa de Cartagena (fl. 1425 – 1478) was a writer, Mysticism, mystic and nun in late medieval Castile who is considered to be the first Spanish-language female writer and mystic. She became deaf between 1453 and 1459. Her experience of deafness ...

, Spanish conversa nun and mystic author of the 15th century who became deaf in later life. The first mystic author in Spanish. * Laurent Clerc (1785–1869), student and teacher (1798–1816) at the Paris Deaf school of the Abbé de l'Épée; accompanied Thomas Gallaudet to America to teach deaf children. Co-founded the first Deaf school in North America in 1817 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. * Alice Cogswell, the first deaf student at American School for the Deaf. * Robert R. Davila, the ninth president of

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...

* Pierre Desloges (1742–?), French deaf writer and bookbinder, first known deaf person to publish a book * Gilbert Eastman (1934–2016), American educator, actor, playwright, author, and television host * Jane Fernandes, the first Deaf woman to serve as president of an American college or university at Guilford College (2014-2021) in Greensboro, NC and the first Deaf woman to head a school for the Deaf Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind (1990-1995) Currently president of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio * Andrew Foster, (1925–1987), American educator, the first Black deaf person to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet College, Christian missionary to Africa * T. Alan Hurwitz, the tenth president of

and former Vice President of

National Technical Institute for the Deaf The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. As one of nine colleges within the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Roches ...

* Casar Jacobson, Norwegian-Canadian first-ever deaf winner of Miss Canada (2013), a disability rights activist and the UN Woman Youth Champion. * I. King Jordan, the first deaf president (eighth overall) of

* Liisa Kauppinen (born 1939), Finnish human rights activist, former president of the World Federation of the Deaf * Helen Keller, American deaf-blind writer, lecturer, and actress * Dorothy Miles, deaf poet and activist * Lawrence R. Newman, deaf educator and activist, and served two terms as President of the National Association of the Deaf * Michael Ndurumo, a deaf educator from

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, the third deaf person from Africa to be awarded a PhD * Marie Jean Philip, a teacher and leading international advocate for the right to sign language * George Veditz, the former president of the National Association of the Deaf, and one of the first people to film sign language

Actors

* Shelley Beattie, American actress and bodybuilder * Sean Berdy, actor and comedian *

Linda Bove Linda Bove is a Deaf American actress, her most notable role being a fictionalized version of herself in the PBS children's series ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 2002. Bove was the first Deaf actress to be a member of the program's recurring c ...

, actress, known particularly for the role of Linda the Librarian on the children's television program

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

* Deanne Bray, actress who played the lead role on '' Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye'' *

Millie Bobby Brown Millie Bonnie Brown Bongiovi ( Brown; born 19 February 2004), known professionally as Millie Bobby Brown, is a British actress and producer. She gained recognition for playing Eleven (Stranger Things), Eleven in the Netflix science fiction ser ...

, an actress from

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

, totally deaf in her right ear * James Cavalry, American actor *

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

, actor, comedian, and talk show host, totally deaf in his right ear. * Aryana Engineer, actress * Lou Ferrigno, American actor and bodybuilder * Phyllis Frelich, American actress, Best Actress in a Broadway play: Children of a Lesser God 1980 * Russell Harvard, actor whose first language is American Sign Language * Bob Hiltermann, actor, writer, director, and musician * Emilio Insolera, Italian actor and director of Sign Gene *

Troy Kotsur Troy Michael Kotsur (; born July 24, 1968) is an American actor. Born deaf, Kotsur made his acting debut in the late 1980s working with the National Theatre of the Deaf. His television debut was in a 2001 episode of ''Strong Medicine''. His film ...

( Best Supporting Actor) for his role in " CODA" * Ryan Lane, actor and model * Gabriella Leon, English actress *

Marlee Matlin Marlee Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, activist, and author. Deafness, Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin is known for her portrayals of deaf women, and for her activism on behalf of deaf individuals in Cinema of the ...

, first deaf person to win an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

( Best Actress) for her role in '' Children of a Lesser God'' *

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...

, Canadian-American comedic actor who was legally deaf * Audree Norton, American actress and educator, one of the founding members of the National Theatre of the Deaf * Lauren Ridloff, an American actress, played the role of Connie (a deaf character) in the ninth season of The Walking Dead. In Eternals, released in 2021, she played the deaf superhero Makkari. * Sandra Mae Frank, American actress, played the role of Dr. Elizabeth Wilder in the forth & fifth season of

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

* Emerson Romero, Cuban-American silent film actor, developed the first technique to caption sound films * Terrylene Sacchetti, actress * Howie Seago, actor and director * Millicent Simmonds, deaf actress * Shoshannah Stern, actress in ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

'' and ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

'' whose first language is American Sign Language * Alexandria Wailes, deaf actress, dancer, and educator *

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...

, American actor, producer, and singer, 70% deaf in his left ear

Artists

* Chuck Baird, (1947–2012), American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and performer, one of the founding members of the De'Via Deaf art movement * Bernard Bragg, performer, writer, director, poet, and artist *

John Brewster Jr John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. (1766–1854) portraitist and miniaturist in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine in the Federalist period in America * Edward Caledon Bruce (1825-1900), American painter, author, and publisher * John Carlin (1813-1891), American painter * Thomas Davidson, RA an English painter specializing in historical naval scenes (1842–1919) * Walter Geikie, Scottish painter *

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

(1746-1828) Spanish painter, became deaf at age 47. *

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

(b. 1937), British painter * Regina Olson Hughes, American Illustrator * Jan (born 1939) Spanish comic artist. Deaf since age 6. * Betty G. Miller, American artist * Maurycy Minkowski, deaf Polish Jewish artist (1881/2–1930) * Juan Fernández Navarrete, Spanish Mannerist painter (1526–79) * Albert Newsam (1809–1864) lithographer, and student of Catlin * Will J. Quinlan, American artist, etcher, painter * Slava Raškaj (1877–1906), Croatian painter * Granville Redmond, American painter, actor * Alfred Thomson, an English artist and Olympic Gold Medalist (1894–1979) * Douglas Tilden, American sculptor * Frederick LaMonto, American sculptor, artist. (1921-1981)

Musicians

* Ailís Ní Ríain, Irish composer *

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, German composer and pianist, who acquired almost complete deafness by age 44. * Beethoven's Nightmare, The first and the only deaf rock band in the world cofounded by Bob Hiltermann, drummer from California, Ed Chevy, and Steve Longo from California. Founded in 1971 and still active. * William Boyce, a British composer who acquired deafness in his late 40s * Sean Forbes, American musician, songwriter, and rapper * TL Forsberg, American avant-garde rock singer who identifies as deaf * Evelyn Glennie, Scottish percussionist, won Grammy for Best Musician in a Recording 1989: Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion * Mandy Harvey, American jazz singer and a finalist of America's Got Talent (season 12) * Geraldine Lawhorn, musician, actress, instructor and first deaf-blind

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

person to earn a

college degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

* Signmark, Finnish rap artist *

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

, Czech composer who became completely deaf at age 50 * Mariko Takamura, deaf Japanese musician * Jeshurun Vincent, Malaysian, traveling musician,

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and inspirational speaker who gained recognition for his global musical journey despite being partially deaf.

Scientists

Guillaume Amontons Guillaume Amontons (31 August 1663 – 11 October 1705) was a French scientific instrument inventor and physicist. He was one of the pioneers in studying the problem of friction, which is the resistance to motion when bodies make contact. He is ...

, French inventor and physicist *

Annie Jump Cannon Annie Jump Cannon (; December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of ...

, Harvard astronomer recognized for her work in stellar classification *

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

, American businessperson and inventor *

John Goodricke John Goodricke FRS (17 September 1764 – 20 April 1786) was an English amateur astronomer. He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782. Life and work John Goodricke, named after his great-grandfa ...

, (1764–1786), English astronomer * Olaf Hassel, Norwegian astronomer * Nansie S. Sharpless, American biochemist *

Henrietta Swan Leavitt Henrietta Swan Leavitt (; July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921) was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in the understanding of the scale and nature of the universe. ...

, American astronomer *

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...

, Russian astronomer

Sports

* Cecilia Hanhikoski, Finnish snowboarder and futsal player * Ashley Fiolek, American motocross racer and stunt actress * Yehuda Gruenfeld, Israeli chess grandmaster * Matt Hammill, American mixed martial arts fighter * Gerry Hughes, British sports sailor * Jim Kyte, Canadian hockey player * Rebecca Macree, British squash player * Robert Marchand, American masters cyclist * Caleb McDuff, British Racing Driver * Mike Murphy, American athletic trainer * Kitty O'Neil, American race driver and stunt actress * Jodie Ounsley, British Rugby Union player * Aimee Walker Pond, American gymnast * Jock Porter, British motorcycle racer * Marie Roethlisberger, American gymnast * Lana Skeledžija, Croatian sport shooter * Melanie Stabel, German sport shooter * Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player * Laurentia Tan, Singaporean Paralympic equestrian * Tone Tangen Myrvoll, Norwegian runner, skier, and orienteer * Margareta Trnková-Hanne, Czech sprinter and tennis player * Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian fencer and Olympic champion *Boris Verlinsky, Ukrainian-Russian chess master *Melinda Vernon, Australian distance runner, triathlete and swimmer *Heidi Zimmer, American mountaineer

American football

*Albert Berg, American football player, coach, and writer *Derrick Coleman (American football), Derrick Coleman, American fullback and Super Bowl champion *Gilbert O. Erickson, American college football player and photographer *Bonnie Sloan, American defensive tackle and first deaf person drafted to the National Football League *Kenny Walker (American football), Kenny Walker, American gridiron player and first deaf player in the Canadian Football League *Blaise Winter, American coach and former defensive end in the NFL

Association football

*Eunate Arraiza, Spanish defender/midfielder *Cliff Bastin, English forward for Arsenal *Jozo Bogdanović, Croatian forward *Stan Burton, English winger *Memnos Costi, English footballer and television presenter *Damir Desnica, Croatian forward *Matthew Eby, American defender/midfielder *Thomas Elliott (footballer), Thomas Elliott, British forward *Albert Gardner, English midfielder *Danielle Gibbons, English goalkeeper *Andy Greig, Scottish goalkeeper *Stefan Markolf, German defender *Athiel Mbaha, Namibian goalkeeper and international at the Africa Cup of Nations *Simon Ollert, German forward *John Tosswill, English forward

Athletics

*Nele Alder-Baerens, German distance runner *Natasha Bacchus, Canadian sprinter *Dean Barton-Smith, Australian decathlete *Edie Boyer, American discus thrower *Suslaidy Girat, Cuban sprinter and jumper *Emilija Manninen, Estonian hurdler *Marie-Paule Miller, French heptathlete *Amy-Lea Mills, Australian javelin thrower *Dawn Moncrieffe, Canadian middle-distance runner *Trude Raad, Norwegian thrower *Ruth Taubert Seeger, American sprinter and jumper *Evgenii Shvetcov, Russian Paralympic runner *Vyacheslav Skomorokhov, Ukrainian-Soviet hurdler *Gerhard Sperling, East German racewalker *Beryl Wamira, Kenyan sprinter *Rita Windbrake, German runner

Baseball

*Michael Cuddyer, American outfielder in MLB during 2001–2015; two-time MLB All-Star *Dummy Deegan, American pitcher for the New York Giants in 1901 *Ed Dundon, American pitcher and first deaf player in MLB, in 1883–1884 *Tyson Gillies, Canadian outfielder and Pan American Games gold medalist *Dummy Hoy, American center fielder and most accomplished deaf player in MLB, during 1888–1902 *Yuya Ishii (baseball), Yuya Ishii, Japanese pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball *Dummy Leitner, American pitcher in MLB during 1901–1902 *Thomas Lynch (pitcher), Thomas Lynch, American pitcher for the Chicago White Stockings (NL) in 1884 *Curtis Pride, American outfielder in MLB during 1993–2006; college baseball coach *Dick Sipek, American outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in 1945 *Dummy Stephenson, American outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1892 *Dummy Taylor, American pitcher in MLB during 1901–1908

Basketball

*Lance Allred, American forward and first legally-deaf NBA player *Buffalo Silents, a 1920s American all-deaf team *Tamika Catchings, American small forward, 2012 WNBA champion and four-time Olympic gold medallist *Wissam Constantin, Lebanese forward and first deaf player in the Lebanese Basketball League *Cecilia Ferm, Swedish international player *Emma Meesseman, Belgian player in the WNBA *Ronda Jo Miller, American player and first deaf woman to try out for the WNBA *Miha Zupan, Slovenian power forward

Cricket

*Anjan Bhattacharjee, Indian first-class bowler for Bihar *Lance Cairns, New Zealand all-rounder and international test player *John Hodgkins (cricketer), John Hodgkins, English first-class all-rounder for Nottinghamshire *Charlie McLeod, Australian all-rounder and international test player *Imran Sheikh, former captain of the deaf India national team *Baba Sidhaye, Indian first-class all-rounder and first national-level deaf-mute player *Umesh Valjee, former captain of the deaf England national team

Swimming

*Carli Cronk, American swimmer, Deaflympic Champion winning 12 gold in a single Games, and deaf world record holder *Cindy-Lu Bailey, Australian swimmer and 29-time Deaflympic medalist *Peggy de Villiers, South African swimmer and Deaflympian *Natalia Deeva, Belarusian swimmer and four-time Deaflympic champion *Gertrude Ederle, American Olympic medalist and the first woman to swim the English channel *Jeff Float, American swimmer and Olympic and world champion *Reed Gershwind, American swimmer and 30-time Deaflympic medalist *Danielle Joyce, British swimmer and two-time Deaflympic champion *Matthew Klotz, American swimmer and deaf world record holder *Cornell Loubser, South African swimmer and Deaflympic medalist *Jill Diana Lovett, British swimmer and Deaflympian *Rebecca Meyers, American swimmer and visually-impaired Paralympic champion *Linda Neumann, German swimmer and Deaflympic medalist *Terence Parkin, South African swimmer and Olympic and world medalist *Alexandra Polivanchuk, Swedish swimmer and deaf world record holder *Anna Polivanchuk, Swedish swimmer and deaf world record holder, sister of Alexandra *Taranath Narayan Shenoy, Indian deaf-blind open water swimmer and swimmer of the English channel

Tennis

*Vidisha Baliyan, Indian tennis player and beauty pageant contestant *Emily Hangstefer, American tennis player and Deaflympian *Jafreen Shaik, Indian tennis player and Deaflympian *Mario Kargl, Austrian tennis player and former deaf world champion *Lee Duck-hee, South Korean tennis player and twice competitor on the ATP Challenger Tour *Gábor Máthé (tennis), Gábor Máthé, Hungarian champion and Deaflympic champion *Angela Mortimer, British tennis player and multiple Grand Slam winner *Barbara Oddone, Italian tennis player and multiple Deaflympic champion *Prithvi Sekhar, Indian tennis player and Deaflympian

Winter sports

*Jenny Berrigan, American snowboarder *Brenda Davidson, Canadian curler *Emma Logan, Canadian curler *Jakub Nosek, Czech bobsledder *Margarita Noskova, Russian snowboarder *Anna Surmilina, Russian snowboarder *Jack Ulrich, Canadian ice hockey player *Lauren Weibert, American snowboarder

Writers

* Rashida Abedi, Pakistani-British autobiographical writer * Kashaf Alvi, Pakistani writer * Kathleen L. Brockway, author, historian, and deaf rights' activist * John Lee Clark, American deafblind poet * Willy Conley, playwright, actor, photographer * Agatha Tiegel Hanson, American writer * Eugen Relgis, Romanian humanist writer and political activist * Michael Chorost, writer and technologist who wrote on his experience of cochlear implants * Angeline Fuller Fischer, American writer * Harold MacGrath, American author * Pierre de Ronsard, French poet * Laura C. Redden Searing,(1893–1923), Civil war journalist, biographer, and poet * Louise Stern, writer and artist * Ted Supalla, researcher and professor * Clayton Valli, deaf linguist and ASL poet * David Wright (poet), David Wright, South African-born British poet * Judith Wright, Australian poet

Other occupations

* Dimitra Arapoglou, a deaf member of the Greek parliament, from 2007 to 2009 *Princess Alice of Battenberg, Alice of Battenberg, a German Princess in the 19th and 20th century * Marla Berkowitz, ASL interpreter; as of 2020, the only Deaf ASL interpreter in the US state of Ohio * Earnest Elmo Calkins, a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising * Nyle DiMarco, season 22 Dancing with the Stars champion and 2015 winner of ''America's Next Top Model'' * Haben Girma, first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School * Claudia L. Gordon, lawyer * Olof Hanson (architect), Olof Hanson, architect *Helen Heckman, dancer * Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk * Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA who became completely deaf age 17.Kehe, Marjorie (2012-03-12)
That 'Crazy Daisy' who started the Girl Scouts
''Christian Science Monitor''. Retrieved 2020-07-10. *Charlotte Lamberton, dancer * Mojo Mathers (b. 1966), New Zealand politician * Florence Lewis May, American textile curator * Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly (b. 1880), deaf-blind black lawyer, Yale alumnus * Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw (b. 1912), British mathematician and politician * François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville, French prince and naval commander *Opu Daeng Risaju, Indonesian independence activist. * Andrew Phillips (lawyer), Andrew Phillips, lawyer *Rikki Poynter, deaf YouTube, YouTuber and Activism, activist. * Punk Chef, celebrity deaf chef from the UK * Elizabeth Steel, the earliest record of a deaf person in Australia * Sue Thomas (agent), Sue Thomas, first deaf person to work as an undercover investigator doing lip-reading of suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation * Heather Whitestone, first deaf woman to win the title of Miss America * Nellie Zabel Willhite, pilot * Mabel Hubbard Bell, wife of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell

Fictional characters

* Connie, a deaf character that fights zombies in AMC's '' The Walking Dead'' series. * Echo (Marvel Comics), Echo, a deaf Native American martial artist from Marvel Comics. * Drury Lane (character), Drury Lane, a deaf detective written by Ellery Queen. * Jade Lovall, a partially deaf nurse in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty.'' * Gabriella, a deaf mermaid and one of Ariel's friends in ''The Little Mermaid (TV series), The Little Mermaid''. * Hawkeye (Clint Barton), a deaf archer from marvel comics. * Maxine "Max" Coleman, a deaf girl and Esther's adoptive younger sister in 2009 horror film ''Orphan (2009 film), Orphan''. * Hearthstone, a deaf elf and one of Magnus's friends from Rick Riordan's ''Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard''. * Regan Abbott, a deaf daughter of Evelyn & Lee Abbott in 2018 horror film ''A Quiet Place''. * Jia Andrews, a deaf girl in 2021 film ''Godzilla vs. Kong''. * Makkari (comics), Makkari, an Eternal with superhuman speed in the 2021 film '' Eternals''.