noun
Refers to the condition of being deaf. Often used in medical or formal contexts. In everyday speech, 難聴 (なんちょう) or 耳が聞こえない may be more common.
彼は生まれつきの聾で、手話を使っている。
He has been deaf since birth and uses sign language.
聾のための特別な学校がある。
There are special schools for the deaf.
難聴 is a more general and medical term for hearing loss or impaired hearing, while 聾 specifically means profound deafness.
聾者 is a noun meaning 'deaf person', formed by adding 者 (person) to 聾.
The kanji 聾 is a phono-semantic compound: 耳 (ear) + 龍 (dragon, used phonetically for ろう). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the character has been used to represent deafness.