What is it about hearing loss?

[RoseRodent]

I was reminded of this strage anomaly the other day when another hearing aid user said it too. Why is it that people seem to have so much trouble believing you when you say you don't hear very well? You ask for something to be repeated, you say sorry I didn't get that I am hearing impaired/deaf/hard of hearing/insert preferred description. You point to your hearing aids, and at this point generally people say I didn't realise you meant hard of hearing as in, you know, that you are actually not able to hear. What did you think I meant?! I've never seen this with anything else, if you tell someone you can't see or can't walk or whatever they tend to get that, why not with hearing?