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As it's already been stated in a [similar
question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/42275/why-did-shouko-use-
hearing-aids-even-though-shes-deaf), Shouko's not completely deaf, but it's
still very severe as she wasn't able to understand people clearly. It seems to
be very blurry as shown in chapter 51 of the manga.

But e.g. the scene on the Ferris wheel in which Naoka talks to Shouko, it
seems that Shouko is able to understand what Naoka's talking (I'm not sure
though, as she only answered "I'm sorry" which Shouko says a lot). Naoka
deliberately talked very slowly. So, is it safe to assume that Shouko is and
has always been able to understand people when they're talking slow enough?

If it wasn't the case when she was still a child, has her sense of hearing
been improved until now to the point in which Shouko's able to understand
people clearly when they talk slow enough? If I'm not mistaken, depending on
the type of deafness, it is possible to stimulate the regeneration of the
hearing ability through medicaments, clinical interventions or sometimes even
without any interventions.

And why is she only wearing one hearing aid? Is it a repercussion of the time
where Shouya damaged her ear? If yes, how badly injured is that ear?


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koe-no-katachi
Actually how deaf is Shouko in Koe no Katachi and is it revealed why she is only wearing 1 hearing aid?


**1.Actually how deaf is Shouko ?**

Actually, it's already been stated in this
[question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/42275/why-did-shouko-use-
hearing-aids-even-though-shes-deaf). Well, just some part of it that answered
your question. But from your state on the question above comes out a new topic
to discuss. But there's another topic to discuss deriving from your question.

> If it wasn't the case when she was still a child, has her sense of hearing
> been improved until now to the point in which Shouko's able to understand
> people clearly when they talk slow enough? **If I'm not mistaken, depending
> on the type of deafness, it is possible to stimulate the regeneration of the
> hearing ability through medicaments, clinical interventions or sometimes
> even without any interventions.**

Well, this is kind of true, but in chapter 32.5 there was a scene in which
Shouko practiced a lot to improve her sign-language with her grandmother. She
is doing this because of Yuzuru. Here are the pages in which Yuzuru confronts
Shouko with her voice. (Read from right to left)

**Page 1-2** [![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vS0CR.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vS0CR.jpg)

> Shouko : Uyuu!(Yuzuru!)... Ah oohh(???)
>
> Yuzuru : I don't think you should speak in front of other people.

What Yuzuru told her has (somehow) motivated Shouko to improve her
pronunciation and sign language so it will make her sound not so bad for other
people. You can see her practicing a lot with her grandmother. While Shouko
was learning the sign language with her grandmother, we can see that they
faced each other. I think the reason behind it is that Shouko wants to learn
to understand people talking normally and how they pronounce certain words by
reading their lips. The result of those practices can be seen on page 3.

[![page](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NK2UV.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NK2UV.jpg)

Here, i.e. after the time skip, she's almost able to say "Yuzuru". Her
pronunciation has improved a lot. You can mostly understand what she's saying,
but it's neither grammatically correct nor phonetically correct.

And on page 6 you can see her practicing JSL with Yuzuru just like her
grandmother did.

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

To answer your question

> So, is it safe to assume that Shouko is and has always been able to
> understand people when they're talking slow enough?

In the Ferris Wheel scene (chapter 27-28), Ueno said that she will speak
slowly, AND she said that _she will make sure that Shouko will understand what
she's going to say_.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G8Rc6.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G8Rc6.jpg)

The question is, did Shouko really understood what Ueno said?

In chapter 28 Shouko writes a letter for Ueno. This scene happened just after
the Ferris Wheel scene. If Shouko didn't understand what Ueno said in the
Ferris Wheel, she wouldn't have been working that hard to write the letter.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4SiWim.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4SiWim.jpg)[![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OQ9tzm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OQ9tzm.jpg)

You can see the content of her letter on chapter 44, page 11-12. The content
of that letter really fits with Shouko's conversation with Ueno back then, so
it is likely her response to that conversation.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6hl3m.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/u6hl3m.jpg)

Based on this, it is correct to say that Shouko did understand what Ueno said
in the Ferris Wheel.

**2\. Is it revealed why she is only wearing 1 hearing aid?**

It's not revealed officially, _yet_. I don't know if it has been revealed, but
a user said on the [MAL forum which discusses a similar
topic](https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1556088):

> I'm surprised that no one knows the answer, considering how obvious it felt.
> Near the middle of the movie, there was a scene with Shouko and her
> grandmother talking with a doctor. After that scene, we see Shouko crying
> with one hearing aid taken off. This basically means that Shouko lost
> hearing capabilities completely in one ear. That's why she doesn't use a
> hearing aid on that ear anymore.

I haven't watched the anime so I can't prove if this is true or not, yet in
manga versions, they never mention anything concerning why Shouko only uses
one hearing aid. And I think it's a bit different between the manga and the
anime version since there was no scene in the manga in which Shouko and her
grandmother were talking with a doctor.


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As for why Shoko starts using one hearing aid in the middle of the movie, I
think it's because she lost all of her hearing in that ear. After the scene
where she's with her grandma at the doctors, we see her crying in her bed and
she's tapping on the one ear. She's trying to see if she can hear anything in
that ear - but she can't. Remember, a lot of deaf/hard of hearing people can
gradually lose their hearing until it's gone.


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Regarding the extra scene in the movie, there is actually part of an author
interview indicating that was part of the plan for the manga story, but was
cut. It does also offer a little insight on how bad Shoko's deafness is. It is
on page 738 in the collector's edition:

> **Oima:** At this point, when she couldn't see Shoya for two weeks [...]
> There was a part I didn't include in the story because it could only be told
> from Shoko's perspective, but actually, at this point, Shoko has just
> learned that her hearing in her right ear has gotten even worse, and she's
> feeling down. Her ability to hear Shoya's voice will be even more limited
> than it is now.

Shoko is shown to react to loud sounds in the story. In the one-shots, she
asks the teacher and others to speak louder, and to face the class (rather
than the blackboard) when teaching. Though she often interrupts because she
doesn't understand, and asks other students with her notebook. She even seems
to hear the teacher call her a nuisance when he mutters it (it could be she
read his lips). It seems she has a little bit of hearing in all versions, but
it seems the degree of her deafness might be different.

I don't have enough expertise to evaluate how deaf she is, but I sought to
provide a little extra information.


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