[Tax-chick]

To be fair, he was only half-deaf.

[southernnorthcarolina]

To be fair, he was only half-deaf.

Exactly. Sensationalistic headline in the original article. The kid might have heard only in mono rather than stereo, and he might have had to use his left ear while listening to the telephone, but it's not like he was totally deaf.

[null and void]

To be fair, he was only half-deaf.

True.

And to be fair, socialized medicine is only half-bad...