Inspired by this thread , if you had to lose either your sight or your hearing and could choose which one, what would you pick and why?
My choice would be sight, mainly for the reason that I don’t think life would be worth living if I couldn’t listen to music.
It would be hard losing sight to be sure, but then again I wouldn’t be so worried about what my hair looks like every day if I couldn’t see my self in the mirror! 
And you??
Hearing. You can’t ride a bicycle blind, and I don’t think I could continue living without purpose.
Hearing, definitely and without any possible doubt, hearing.
I can live without music, for I have more music in my head than any Ipod could carry.
But I could never survive without sight… books, internet, movies, television, driving my car, and of course pornography (potentially part of all previous examples, but worth mentioning on its own.)
Sight. I’ve known several blind people who got along just fine. The communication gap without hearing would make me crazy, and while I’d miss music, the communication gap would be a bigger issue.
Besides, I could get a really cool guide dog of my very own. Such wonderful animals!
Hearing, absolutely. I couldn’t give up books (Braille would be too hard to learn at my age, and don’t talk to me about audiobooks) and movies, but I could give up music. In-person conversation would be a devastating loss, to be sure, but I could find ways of following along, or I’d just live more of my life online. It is also much harder for a blind person to be independent wrt traveling, moving, etc than a deaf person.
Definitely sight. I’m extremely nearsighted already. Plus I’m very much in love with music, the sounds of people’s voices, etc. I could live without, but not music and communication.
As an adult, I would choose to become deaf. My life would not change that much if I were to lose my hearing at age 44
If I was a newborn baby, I would choose to be blind. Reason: without hearing, learning to communicate is nearly impossible.
Hearing. I’m already going deaf, so it’s just a step on down the line.
But if I couldn’t read any more… :eek:
Hearing, definitley.
I’d go insane if I couldn’t read-- and no, braille or books-on-tape wouldn’t fill that void.
Being deaf wouldn’t be that bad for me-- I’ve been told I don’t listen, anyway. 
I’m not a big fan of music, so I wouldn’t really miss that too much. I tend to watch television with the captions on now, so I don’t think that would bother me.
I bet there are some sign-language speakers who would disagree with you.
I hope never to lose either one, but I’d rather lose hearing than sight. Much as I love music, I couldn’t give up reading.
I’m over 45, I have nerve deafness and lousy eyesight. At a choice between sight or hearing I’ll take eyesight. I already live without listening to music or watching tv and movies, however I would go insane if I couldn’t read. And without sight I wouldn’t be able to live an independent life.
Sight, definitely. I’m a musician. I know a bunch of blind skiers who do just fine, and my home mountain is the home of Maine Handicapped Skiing, so that aspect is sorted, and I love to listen to baseball on the radio, so if you sit me in Fenway, among the sounds and smells, and plug WEEI in my ear, I’m pretty much set for life.
I’m legally blind (whatever the hell that means) in one eye and I’ve also been cursed with dodgy hearing, and from my POV, losing your hearing is much, MUCH worse than losing vision.
Being deaf (even partially so) shuts you off from normal human relationships. Not being able to hear music is one thing…not being able to share in fundamental communications with others effectively isolates you into a life of solitude.
From my experience, being a bit blind is a pain in the arse, but being a bit deaf is life-altering…and not in a positive way.
Hearing.
I love music as much as the next guy, but my hearing is really sensitive and the idea of finally having some peace and quiet is almost appealing. I wouldn’t get annoyed in houses with bad music, loud tvs, smacking gum, zooming cars, whistling trains, screaming kids, whatever…I can think of so many situations where I thought “I wish I had less stuff to hear” but almost none where I wish there was more.
My sight however, I need.
Hearing.
I recently went through a scare where I thought that I was losing my sight and it was terrible. If I were going blind I would kill myself.
Sight. Which sounds weird, because I’m a very visual person… but I know I would be able to turn tactile function into 3D images just fine.
You can communicate better with people if you can’t see than if you can’t hear.
I was blind for a while (my blood pressure, which is usually low, shot up due to a sip of coffee) and it was scary as heck but I could figure out where people were and walk back home.
I’ve already lost a bit of both, but I could definitely not live without my hearing. I couldn’t abide not listening to Led Zeppelin, Bach, Metallica or Enya again. Not to mention not being able to hear my husband play guitar anymore.
There are definitely some things I could live without seeing, however.
If I had to choose which one I lost, it would be my hearing. That way I get to keep more of my independance.
Hearing. I love to read and watch TV way too much.
Hearing. While both hearing and sight are necessary for certain specific daily activities, hearing people have a much easier time living independently and integrating into the community. A relevant statistic: Unemployment for the deaf in the U.S. is about 22%; unemployment for the blind is 70-90%. Although there are many highly capable blind people, and a lot of the unemployment problem is caused by attitudes, blindness still requires far, far greater adjustments than deafness.