Notable Figures with Hearing Impairments Who Made History

Author: Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 10 Nov 2017 - Updated: 26 Jun 2026
Publication Type: Informative

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Publications

Synopsis: This information presents a comprehensive overview of well-known individuals throughout history who have experienced hearing impairments or deafness, demonstrating the breadth of contributions made by people with hearing loss across fields such as science, music, literature, and activism. The article is authoritative and useful because it draws on a wide range of notable figures, including Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed some of his greatest works while profoundly deaf; Helen Keller, an influential author and advocate; and Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor who was hard of hearing. By highlighting these examples and many others, the article offers both inspiration and practical context, showing that hearing loss does not preclude achievement or innovation. This can be especially helpful for people with disabilities, seniors, or anyone interested in disability awareness, as it provides real-world evidence of the capabilities and successes of those with hearing impairments.

At a Glance

• 1 - Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor for his role in "CODA."
• 2 - Helen Keller, who was deaf-blind, became a celebrated writer, lecturer, and actress.
• 3 - Dummy Hoy, a center fielder, is regarded as the most accomplished deaf player in Major League Baseball history.

Topic Definition: Hearing Impairment

A hearing impairment is a partial or total reduction in a person's ability to detect or understand sound, ranging from mild difficulty hearing speech to profound deafness. It can be present from birth or acquired later in life through genetics, illness, injury, or aging, and it may affect one ear or both. Some people experience single-sided deafness and can hear normally in one ear while struggling to locate where sounds come from, while others rely on tools and skills such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, speech-reading, or sign language to communicate and live independently. Many within this community view themselves through the lens of culture and language rather than limitation, with a good number considering themselves hard of hearing and treating spoken or signed language as central to their identity.

Introduction

Notable Deaf and Hard of Hearing People Who Shaped History Across Science, Sports, Music, and the Arts

A hearing impairment exists when an individual is not sensitive to the sounds normally heard by its kind. In human beings, the term hearing impairment is usually reserved for people who have relative insensitivity to sound in the speech frequencies.

Hearing loss can be inherited, both dominant and recessive genes exist which can cause mild to profound impairment. If a family has a dominant gene for deafness it will persist across generations because it will manifest itself in offspring even if it is inherited from only one parent.

People who are hard of hearing have varying amounts of hearing loss but usually not enough to be considered deaf. Many people who are deaf consider spoken language their primary language and consider themselves "hard of hearing".

People with unilateral hearing loss (single sided deafness/SSD) can hear normally in one ear, but have trouble hearing out of the other ear. Problems with this type of deficit is inability to localize sounds. Those who lose their hearing later in life, such as in late adolescence or adulthood, face their own challenges. For example, they must adjust to living with the adaptations that make it possible for them to live independently. They may have to adapt to using hearing aids or a cochlear implant, develop speech-reading skills, and/or learn sign language.

Main Content

List of Famous and Well Known People Who Have or Had Hearing Impairments

• Aimee Walker Pond - American gymnast.
• Alan T. Hurwitz
• Albert Berg - American footballer player, coach, and writer.
• Albert Gardner - English midfielder.
• Albert Newsam - Lithographer, and student of Catlin.
• Alexandra Polivanchuk - Swedish swimmer and deaf world record holder.
• Alexandria Wailes - Deaf actress, dancer, and educator.
• Alfred Thomson, an English artist and Olympic Gold Medalist.
• Alice Cogswell - First deaf student at American School for the Deaf.
• Alice of Battenberg - German Princess.
• Amy-Lea Mills - Australian javelin thrower.
• Andrew Foster - American educator, the first Black deaf person to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet College.
• Andrew Phillips - Lawyer.
• Andy Greig - Scottish goalkeeper.
• Angela Mortimer - British tennis player and multiple Grand Slam winner.
• Angela Stratiy
• Anjan Bhattacharjee - Indian first-class bowler for Bihar.
• Anna Polivanchuk - Swedish swimmer and deaf world record holder, sister of Alexandra.
• Anna Surmilina - Russian snowboarder.
• Annie Jump Cannon - Harvard astronomer recognized for her work in stellar classification.
• Aryana Engineer - Actress.
• Ashley Fiolek - American motocross racer and stunt actress.
• Athiel Mbaha - Namibian goalkeeper and international at the Africa Cup of Nations.
• Audree Norton - American actress and educator, one of the founding members of the National Theatre of the Deaf.
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Baba Sidhaye - Indian first-class all-rounder and first national-level deaf-mute player.
• Barbara Oddone - Italian tennis player and multiple Deaflympic champion.
• Bedřich Smetana - Czech composer who became completely deaf at age .
• Bernard Bragg - Performer, writer, director, poet, and artist.
• Bernard Bragg
• Beryl Wamira - Kenyan sprinter.
• Betty G. Miller - American artist.
• Blaise Winter - American coach and former defensive end in the NFL.
• Bob Hiltermann - Actor, writer, director, and musician.
• Bonnie Sloan - American defensive tackle and first deaf person drafted to the National Football League.
• Boris Verlinsky - Ukrainian-Russian chess master.
• Brenda Davidson - Canadian curler.
• Bruce Willis - American actor, producer, and singer.
• Buffalo Silents - American all-deaf team.
• Caleb McDuff - British go-kart racer.
• Casar Jacobson - Norwegian-Canadian first-ever deaf winner of Miss Canada, a disability rights activist and the UN Woman Youth Champion.
• Cecilia Ferm - Swedish international player.
• Cecilia Hanhikoski - Finnish snowboarder and futsal player.
• Charlie McLeod - Australian all-rounder and international test player.
• Charlotte Lamberton - Dancer.
• Christy Smith
• Chuck Baird
• Cindy-Lu Bailey - Australian swimmer and Deaflympic medalist.
• Claudia L. Gordon - Lawyer.
• Clayton Valli - Deaf linguist and ASL poet.
• Clayton Valli
• Cliff Bastin
• Cornell Loubser - South African swimmer and Deaflympic medalist.
• Curtis Pride - American outfielder in MLB.
• Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw - British mathematician and politician.
• Damir Desnica - Croatian forward.
• Danielle Gibbons - English goalkeeper.
• Danielle Joyce - British swimmer and two-time Deaflympic champion.
• David Hockney - British painter.
• David Wright - South African-born British poet.
• Dawn Moncrieffe - Canadian middle-distance runner.
• Dean Barton-Smith - Australian decathlete.
• Deanne Bray - Actress who played the lead role on Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye.
• Derrick Coleman - American fullback and Super Bowl champion.
• Dick Sipek - American outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in .
• Dimitra Arapoglou - Deaf member of the Greek parliament.
• Dorothy Miles - Deaf poet and activist.
• Douglas Tilden
• Dummy Deegan - American pitcher for the New York Giants.
• Dummy Hoy - American center fielder and most accomplished deaf player in MLB.
• Dummy Leitner - American pitcher in MLB.
• Dummy Stephenson - American outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Dummy Taylor - American pitcher in MLB.
• Earnest Elmo Calkins - Deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising.
• Ed Dundon - American pitcher and first deaf player in MLB.
• Edie Boyer - American discus thrower.
• Elizabeth Steel - Earliest record of a deaf person in Australia.
• Emilija Manninen - Estonian hurdler.
• Emilio Insolera - Italian actor and director of Sign Gene.
• Emily Hangstefer - American tennis player and Deaflympian.
• Emma Logan - Canadian curler.
• Emma Meesseman - Belgian player in the WNBA.
• Eugen Relgis - Romanian humanist writer and political activist.
• Eunate Arraiza - Spanish defender/midfielder.
• Evelyn Glennie
• Evgenii Shvetcov - Russian Paralympic runner.
• Ferdinand Berthier.
• Florence Lewis May - American textile curator.
• Foxy Brown
• François d'Orléans - Prince of Joinville, French prince and naval commander.
• Francisco Goya
• Frederick LaMonto - American sculptor, artist.
• Gábor Máthé - Hungarian champion and Deaflympic champion.
• Gabriel Faure
• Gabriella Leon - English actress.
• George Veditz - Former president of the National Association of the Deaf, and one of the first people to film sign language.
• Georgia Horsley
• Geraldine Lawhorn - Musician, actress, instructor and first deaf-blind African-American person to earn a college degree.
• Gerhard Sperling - East German racewalker.
• Gerry Hughes - British sports sailor.
• Gertrude Ederle
• Gilbert Eastman - American educator, actor, playwright, author, and television host.
• Gilbert O. Erickson - American college footballer player and photographer.
• Granville Redmond
• Guillaume Amontons
• Haben Girma - First deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School.
• Harold MacGrath - American author.
• Harold MacGrath
• Heather Whitestone - First deaf woman to win the title of Miss America.
• Heidi Zimmer - American mountaineer.
• Helen Heckman - Dancer.
• Helen Keller - American deaf-blind writer, lecturer, and actress.
• Henrietta Howard - Countess of Suffolk.
• Henrietta Swan Leavitt - American astronomer.
• Henry Lawson
• Howie Seago - Actor and director.
• I. King Jordan
• Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő - Hungarian fencer and Olympic champion.
• Imran Sheikh - Former captain of the deaf India national team.
• Jack Ulrich - Canadian ice hockey player.
• Jafreen Shaik - Indian tennis player and Deaflympian.
• Jakub Nosek - Czech bobsledder.
• Jan - Spanish comic artist.
• Jane Fernandes
• Jeff Float - American swimmer and Olympic and world champion.
• Jenny Berrigan - American snowboarder.
• Jill Diana Lovett - British swimmer and Deaflympian.
• Jim Kyte - Canadian hockey player.
• Joachim du Bellay
• Joe Swail - Northern Irish snooker player.
• John Brewster Jr.
• John Goodricke - English astronomer.
• John Hodgkins - English first-class all-rounder for Nottinghamshire.
• John Lee Clark - American deafblind poet.
• John Tosswill - English forward.
• Johnnie Ray
• Jozo Bogdanović - Croatian forward.
• Juan Fernández Navarrete - Spanish Mannerist painter.
• Judith Wright - Australian poet.
• Julia Brace
• Juliette Gordon Low
• Kathleen L. Brockway - Author, historian, and deaf rights activist.
• Kenny Walker - American gridiron player and first deaf player in the Canadian Football League.
• Kitty O'Neil - American race driver and stunt actress.
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky - Russian astronomer.
• Lana Skeledžija - Croatian sport shooter.
• Lance Allred - American forward and first legally-deaf NBA player.
• Lance Cairns - New Zealand all-rounder and international test player.
• Laura Bridgman
• Laura C. Redden Searing - Civil war journalist, biographer, and poet.
• Lauren Ridloff - American actress.
• Lauren Weibert - American snowboarder.
• Laurent Clerc - Student and teacher at the Paris deaf school of the Abbé de l'Épée.Co-founded the first deaf school in North America in in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Laurentia Tan - Singaporean Paralympic equestrian.
• Lawrence R. Newman - Deaf educator and activist, and served two terms as President of the National Association of the Deaf.
• Lee Duck-hee - South Korean tennis player and twice competitor on the ATP Challenger Tour.
• Leslie Nielsen - Canadian-American comedic actor who was legally deaf.
• Liisa Kauppinen - Finnish human rights activist, former president of the World Federation of the Deaf.
• Linda Bove - Actress, known particularly for the role of Linda the Librarian on the children's television program Sesame Street.
• Linda Neumann - German swimmer and Deaflympic medalist.
• Lon Chaney, Sr.
• Lou Ferrigno
• Louis Long
• Louise Stern - Writer and artist.
• Ludwig van Beethoven - German composer and pianist who acquired almost complete deafness by age.
• Luis Bunuel
• Mabel Hubbard Bell - Wife of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
• Mandy Harvey - American jazz singer and a finalist of America's Got Talent.
• Margareta Trnková-Hanne - Czech sprinter and tennis player.
• Margarita Noskova - Russian snowboarder.
• Marie Jean Philip - Teacher and leading international advocate for the right to sign language.
• Marie Roethlisberger - American gymnast.
• Marie-Paule Miller - French heptathlete.
• Mariko Takamura - Deaf Japanese musician.
• Mario Kargl - Austrian tennis player and former deaf world champion.
• Marla Berkowitz - ASL interpreter.
• Marlee Matlin
• Marneen Fields
• Matthew Eby - American defender/midfielder.
• Matthew Klotz - American swimmer and deaf world record holder.
• Maurycy Minkowski - Deaf Polish Jewish artist.
• Melanie Stabel - German sport shooter.
• Melinda Vernon - Australian distance runner, triathlete and swimmer.
• Memnos Costi - English footballer and television presenter.
• Michael Chorost - Writer and technologist who wrote on his experience of cochlear implants.
• Michael Cuddyer - American outfielder in MLB.
• Michael Ndurumo - Deaf educator from Kenya, the third deaf person from Africa to be awarded a PhD.
• Miha Zupan - Slovenian power forward.
• Miha Zupan
• Mike Murphy - American athletic trainer.
• Millicent Simmonds - Deaf actress.
• Millie Bobby Brown - Actress from Stranger Things, totally deaf in her right ear.
• Mojo Mathers - New Zealand politician.
• Nanette Fabray
• Nansie S. Sharpless - American biochemist.
• Natalia Deeva - Belarusian swimmer and four-time Deaflympic champion.
• Natasha Bacchus - Canadian sprinter.
• Nele Alder-Baerens - German distance runner.
• Nellie Zabel Willhite - Pilot.
• Nyle DiMarco - Dancing with the Stars champion and winner of America's Next Top Model.
• Olaf Hassel - Norwegian astronomer.
• Oliver Heaviside
• Opu Daeng Risaju - Indonesian independence activist.
• Peggy de Villiers - South African swimmer and Deaflympian.
• Pete Townshend
• Phyllis Frelich - American actress, Best Actress in a Broadway play: Children of a Lesser God .
• Pierre Desloges - French deaf writer and bookbinder, first known deaf person to publish a book.
• Pierre Desloges
• Pierre de Ronsard
• Pinky Aiello
• Prithvi Sekhar - Indian tennis player and Deaflympian.
• Punk Chef - Celebrity deaf chef from the UK.
• Rebecca Macree - British squash player.
• Rebecca Meyers - American swimmer and visually-impaired Paralympic champion.
• Reed Gershwind - American swimmer and -time Deaflympic medalist.
• Regina Olson Hughes - American Illustrator.
• Rikki Poynter - Deaf YouTuber and activist.
• Rita Windbrake - German runner.
• Robert Marchand - American masters cyclist.
• Robert R. Davila
• Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly - Deaf-blind black lawyer, Yale alumnus.
• Ronda Jo Miller - American player and first deaf woman to try out for the WNBA.
• Rudi Carrell
• Russell Harvard - Actor whose first language is American Sign Language.
• Ruth Taubert Seeger - American sprinter and jumper.
• Ryan Adams
• Ryan Lane - Actor and model.
• Sean Berdy
• Sean Forbes - American musician, songwriter, and rapper.
• Shelley Beattie - American actress and bodybuilder.
• Shosannah Stern
• Signmark - Finnish rap artist.
• Simon Ollert - German forward.
• Sir William McMahon
• Slava Raškaj - Croatian painter.
• Stan Burton - English winger.
• Stefan Markolf - German defender.
• Stephen Colbert - Actor, comedian, and talk show host, totally deaf in his right ear.
• Sue Thomas - First deaf person to work as an undercover investigator doing lip-reading of suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• Suslaidy Girat - Cuban sprinter and jumper.
• T. Alan Hurwitz - Tenth president of Gallaudet University and former Vice President of National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
• TL Forsberg - American avant-garde rock singer who identifies as deaf.
• Tamika Catchings - American small forward, WNBA champion and four-time Olympic gold medallist.
• Taranath Narayan Shenoy - Indian deaf-blind open water swimmer and swimmer of the English channel.
• Ted Supalla - Researcher and professor.
• Terence Parkin - South African swimmer and Olympic and world medalist.
• Teresa de Cartagena - Spanish conversa nun and mystic author who became deaf in later life. The first mystic author in Spanish.
• Terrylene Sachetti
• Thomas Davidson - RA an English painter specializing in historical naval scenes.
• Thomas Edison
• Thomas Elliott - British forward.
• Thomas Lynch - American pitcher for the Chicago White Stockings (NL).
• Tone Tangen Myrvoll - Norwegian runner, skier, and orienteer.
• Trix Bruce
• Troy Kotsur (Best Supporting Actor) for his role in "CODA".
• Trude Raad - Norwegian thrower.
• Tyson Gillies - Canadian outfielder and Pan American Games gold medalist.
• Umesh Valjee - Former captain of the deaf England national team.
• Vichay Phommachan
• Vidisha Baliyan - Indian tennis player and beauty pageant contestant.
• Vyacheslav Skomorokhov - Ukrainian-Soviet hurdler.
• Walter Geikie
• Will J. Quinlan - American artist, etcher, painter.
• William Boyce - British composer.
• William Elsworth
• William Shatner
• Willy Conley - Playwright, actor, photographer.
• Wissam Constantin - Lebanese forward and first deaf player in the Lebanese Basketball League.
• Yehuda Gruenfeld - Israeli chess grandmaster.
• Yuya Ishii - Japanese pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball.

NOTE: If you notice any inaccuracies in this list, please reach out to us so we can correct it. Additionally, if you believe someone should be added to this list, please provide us with their name and any information to verify their disability. We value your help, and you can contact us here.

You can also view our other lists of famous and well-known people with various disabilities and conditions, including actors, politicians, and writers who contributed to society.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Author Credentials: Ian is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, a leading resource for news and information on disability issues. With a global perspective shaped by years of travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed proponent of the Social Model of Disability-a transformative framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that emphasizes dismantling societal barriers rather than focusing solely on individual impairments. His work reflects a deep commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.