The comparisons and contrasts between Hawkeye and Echo should only make Hawkeye’s hearing loss even more important to the overall themes of this TV series.
The show reintroduces Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton in the audience at a Broadway musical about the Battle of New York from The Avengers.
Giving Renner’s Clint hearing loss does bring the character more in line with his comic-book counterpart.
The shot of him turning it back on so his daughter can ask him a question is how we learn that Hawkeye is now partially deaf.