In my opinion, she had it worse than me because she never learned American Sign Language and she was never involved in the Deaf Community so she never really had support in coping with her Deafness. And she struggled in keeping up with conversation when there was a large number of people in the same room, which I noticed during family reunions.
My aunt never learned sign language either—her mother wouldn’t allow it because she thought that using sign language would cause people to stare at her. (Long time ago—people had funny notions.)
There was no Deaf Community in the town where she lived—Smithville TX—population about 2,000. As far as I know, my aunt was the only totally deaf person in town.
She was beloved by all who knew her, though, because of her kindness and her good works.
I developed severe hearing problems at about age 40, half a lifetime ago. I've pursued state of the art hearing aid technology as best I could afford.
Right now, I have some excellent aids that allow me to converse easily with three or four people. But more than that imposes great hearing difficulty. It doesn't have to be a family reunion that puts me out of the realm of understanding.
No matter how painstakingly the amplified signal is made the inverse of the hearing loss curve, cross talk and echoes make hearing in a crowd very difficult.
The world is a calm and peaceful place without my hearing aids, but I'd rather hear well. Digital technology is superior to analog, and both are a world better than the old silver ear trumpet my great-grandmother used.