[Competence in verbal communication of deaf adults in Austria. II: Vocabulary]

The understanding of isolated written words by deaf adults was checked using a basic list of 500 German words developed for this study. Even at this basic level about 7% of the words could not be identified by the deaf subjects. There were particular problems with words from colloquial German, function words, terms without mouthing in sign language and cover terms. Concerning rehabilitation the use of sign language vocabulary already known by the deaf for written language vocabulary training and a stronger orientation towards functional everyday communication is recommended.