Why did Shouko use hearing aids even though she's deaf?


In Koe no Katachi, Shouko Nishimiya uses hearing aids. She's deaf, so can she
actually hear something or not? I have read the manga but didn't watch the
movie, so I haven't seen any clue about why she is using hearing aids. For
what purposes did she use hearing aids in the first place?

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHDJL.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHDJL.png)




I think it's never mentioned exactly, but the only reason she is using hearing
aids can be that she can hear some sounds, but her hearing is bad enough to be
considered clinically deaf.

We can actually see her several times in the manga reacting to loud shouts and
noises.

There are also some pages in chapter 51 that show speech bubbles from her
point of view (one of these pages below), so this also might prove that she
isn't completely deaf.

[![x](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYKna.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WYKna.jpg)




Shouko uses hearing aids _because_ she's deaf. [They're meant to
assist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_aid) anyone with hearing loss of
specific kinds to allow them to better identify sounds.

If you're looking for a clue, in the first chapter of her introduction, she
plainly tells the classroom that she's deaf.

[![Chapter
1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MQ3AQ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MQ3AQ.png)

Picture taken from [Chapter 1 of _Koe no Katachi_ , available for free from
Crunchyroll.](https://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/a-silent-voice-koe-no-
katachi/volumes)

