Yep, it's best to know the exact background and that's the only way possible to conclude it (genetics wise).
Googled real quick two examples of the genetic defect possibilities. Out of ~40+. THIS IS ONLY TWO.
Below is a hearing father with no recessive genes, and he isn't heterozygous. He can be late deafened through a disease or illness if we want to call it that, or he can be hearing. Either way.
The mother was born as Hearing but as a Carrier or is known to have slight hearing defects since birth.
Doing a punnet square, this is what the results have a chance of turning out as:
Note, this does not mean that if they have 4 kids, this is the exact turnout. It means each time they have a child, he/she could be one of the four. The egg/sperm have no memory and do not have a mind of its own, it's a chance each time of one of the 4 turnouts. Both of a boy and girl. This scenario is for where the deafness deficiency is X-chromosomal.
Scenario 2:
If both the mother, and the father, appear to be Hearing but are heterozygous with the deafness gene (meaning they are carriers) then this is the result of the children. (The deaf/affected children are the dark colored ones). Here is your punnet square:
Carrier means that they might appear to be hearing, but they carry the gene for deafness so they can pass it along if they have children.
Even as easy as this seems, it's not easy to determine or pinpoint the exact causes in genetic defects resulting in deafness. There's like over 30-40+ genes that can be linked with deafness, and doing testing on them all without knowing a person's background is a daunting task to challenge. I did some research about this a few years ago because I had the same question as Loghead about my future. He wants answers, this is my scientific response

.