Sign language is proof that talking was never really about sound.

Language never actually needed sound. Signed languages carry grammar, jokes, arguments, poetry and regional accents through hands and face and space, which means everything that makes language language was available without audio the whole time. Speech is one delivery system that happens to be common, not the thing itself.

If anybody at your school or your job signs, learn a handful of signs and use them. Face the person you are talking to rather than the interpreter. Treat it as a language you are a beginner in, which is precisely what it is.