Calgarian, re going on a long bike trip-what I would highly recommend is to do some short trips and see if you like doing it. I wouldnt think too much about a really long trip until you see that you enjoy the activity. With two rear panniers and maybe a borrowed tent, you can easily do some weekend trips to start with, or even no tent if you have somewhere to sleep or a cheap hostel or whatever.

re deafness. I completely recommend helmet or sunglass mounted mirrors. MEC sells a great model called Take-a-Look

https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5013-6...ist%27s-Mirror

completely adjustable, super tough, excellent optics (not cheap scratchy plastic mirror). I have used the same one for maybe 8 years and its still going strong.
Helmet mounted mirrors have many advantages-with just a glance up and to the left, you see whats up, a fraction of a second; with a slight turn of the head you can change the view you see (for example in a corner, you can then easily see if a car is entering the corner behind you, which you cant do with handlebar mounted mirrors); if out of the seat you can still see whats going on,

I always highly recommend these mirrors for everyone, but for someone deaf who needs the best, fastest and most effective visual aids , try one.