I'm 66, and losing my hearing (pretty much totally deaf in one ear, and losing my ability to comprehend speech in the other....despite amplification w. hearing aids). Since people who get cochlear implants DO NOT actually "hear", but learn (via therapy) to "brain interpret" the implant signal as speech, I wondered if such an approach would help. Turns out that it will, and there is software that will allow one to "train oneself" to interpret the "new" speech patterns that arise from loss of certain frequency ranges.
Your comment led me to check, and there is indeed software available to teach lip reading, as well.
If I could decode better what I already hear, with frequencies missing, it would help a LOT.
For pretty much the same reasons that black "community leaders" don't want black people to go mainstream.
It would give up their power to be advocates for the people they are holding down through their advocacy. Even worse, it could mean a loss of government checks.
Another family friend makes his living as a sign language interpreter. Sign language was one of the skills he acquired when he went into social work to help hearing impaired people get into the mainstream. Sadly, it is the only skill he uses anymore because, again, the "community leaders" don't want them in the mainstream. Thankfully, a lot of them buck the leaders and get there anyway. But a lot more don't.
My friend's most common interpreting jobs are for the courts.