Profoundly Deaf people
Many D/deaf people use British Sign Language (BSL) as their preferred language. These Deaf people may not be able to lip read and they may not use or understand written English. They will usually need a Sign Language Interpreter.
Hard of hearing or Deafened People
Deafened or hard of hearing people often become deaf after they have acquired a spoken language and usually communicate using speech and rely on lipreading and reading from notes. Typically this group of people are likely to require lipspeakers, speech to text reporters or notetakers. Some hard of hearing people have chosen to learn British Sign Language and so they may choose to use to use a sign language interpreter as well.
Deafblind People
The experience of every Deafblind person is different due to degree of sight and hearing loss and when the loss occurred. Consequently a Deafblind person may use speech, lipreading, writing, fingerspelling, sign language or a combination of these communication methods. The ideal communication professional is difficult to estimate so it is always better to ask the Deafblind person what communication method he or she prefers.