I think you may have counted me as a vote for "disabled" - I actually didn't vote, just pointing out that "handicapped" is less correct than "disabled" when referring to disabled people. I would vote that HOH and Deaf are both polite. "Disabled", IMHO, is a category that deafness falls under, but I wouldn't say, "Do you know ___? The disabled guy?", I would say, "Do you know ___? The deaf (or HOH) guy?", depending on which (deaf or HOH) was more accurate. It's just more specific.
