§ 21.001.Definition

One definition, and it is written around function rather than diagnosis.

"Deaf person" means an individual who has a hearing impairment, regardless of whether the person also has a speech impairment, that inhibits the person’s comprehension of proceedings or communication with others.

There is no audiological threshold. The test is not how much hearing has been lost but whether the impairment gets in the way — which means a person with partial hearing who cannot follow a courtroom qualifies, and the question is answered by what happens in the room rather than by a chart.

That is the right test for the setting. Courtrooms have poor acoustics, several people speaking, and speech that matters at the level of individual words.

The two effects named are distinct. Comprehension of proceedings is about following what is said; communication with others is about being understood. Either suffices, so a person who can follow the hearing but cannot make themselves understood is covered.

The speech impairment clause forecloses a specific argument — that someone with both impairments falls outside a provision about hearing. It reaches them expressly.

The definition governs this subchapter, which requires appointment of a qualified interpreter and regulates where the interpreter stands, the oath they take, their privilege, and their role in jury deliberations.