>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.