I'm not sure if this is "human nature" or if it's a specific cultural problem in the modern west. It's certainly true here in Canada too -- everyone uses terms that are really quite heavy duty to describe quite minor things.

I'm deaf. When I tell people this, one of the most common response is "Oh, don't worry. I'm a little bit deaf too." Now not to go policing people on their identities but -- no you're not.

Like what do I need to say? Clinically deaf. Severe-profoundly deaf. Cannot hear a fire alarm without hearing aids?

It's one thing when it's an elderly person. Yes maybe they are in fact a bit deaf too. But for all the people in their 30s or 40s who have said it to me -- the odds they all have moderate or worse hearing loss is nil! Most of the people who are saying it presumably have normal hearing. I understand that they're trying to identify with and not alienate me. But it's such a strange dynamic.

>When I tell people this, one of the most common response is "Oh, don't worry. I'm a little bit deaf too."

I think that is just people being people, and that's the first "acceptable" thing that pops into their mind when they hear that. They are just trying to relate to you. They are socially conditioned to not say things like, "that's too bad", or "I'm sorry", etc.. They were probably prepping to say something about the latest weather trends or something equally banal, and now you've hit them with something out of left field that they've never encountered before. How would you like people to respond? I am a migraine sufferer, and get the same types of responses, like "oh, I get headaches too", and "my sister in-law cured her migraines with mint oil!". I mean, most of the things that most people say are rather dopey.

Just start speaking ASL (or whichever) when they tell you they are deaf! Let them handle that gracefully.

Conversations are rarely about saying truthful things, and mostly about societal theatre that is supposed to leave both parties feeling better. Nobody cares that you're deaf, what you're expected to do is to react in a way that makes the other person feel good. I don't like this either, but that's how, for the lack of better word, "normies" function.