deaf-mutism

"Deaf-mutism": People with the disorder are both deaf and mute.

Cretinism is a condition associated with iodine deficiency and goiter, commonly characterised by mental deficiency, deaf-mutism, squint, disorders of stance and gait, stunted growth and hypothyroidism.

Also called il muto da Ficarola (the mute of Ficarolo), due to his defect (likely congenital deaf-mutism) and hometown of Ficarolo, near Rovigo.

That is why the earlier geneticists found it so hard to eliminate such recessives as hemophilia and deaf-mutism; it was impossible, until the genes in question were charted by extremely difficult indirect and inferential means, to tell whether or not an adult, himself in perfect health, was actually "clean."