Neanderthals were deaf?

I would of loved to put this into a prehistory section of the site..... but there isn't any, so I'll put it here.

I put this on a few sites under this same title, so if you want to see more, do a search under this title. This is more brainstorming than presenting a serious theory, I sorta back it, but I am also willing to disregard it if someone comes up with a good reason as to why it's wrong, given I've only been thinking about it for a few days. Here it goes:

I was wondering this the other day on my walk. Yes, it is speculation, and no, I don't believe there is any fact to back it, cause I do believe I am the first to consider something like this.

Given the patterns of Neanderthal injuries from thrusting, as well as their developed sense of sight as assumed from their brain size, and their high level of expertise in creating stone tools, but slow development and evolution of such tools until the Sapiens explosion in which they show signs of Neanderthal assimilation of technology, it hit me the other day while walking on a trail and listening to my IPOD that I only spotted deer when I stumbled upon them, damn near close to thrusting distance.

Command and Control, and Communications are vital factors in maintaining any operation, be it a earthworm's body wiggling in the dirt, or a modern military machine moving against hostility and friction. Yes, Homo Sapiens had more range of vocal sounds we could produce over the Neanderthal, but I doubt this would have limited the Neanderthals, especially in this era, from communicating just as well. However, let say a genetic mutation that rapidly spread throughout the Neanderthal population limiting thier ability to hear.... or perhaps speak.... would of effected their long term planning if a system of writing and communications such as via sign language wasn't developed.

Now, having been in the Infantry, I can assure you, most of the orders in a MOUT situation are not given by command, the slightest gestures jump across cultures and beliefs, and both your forces as well as the enemy can easily understand the slightest order or request given. However, large scale co-ordination beyond a simple room to room fight is hard to give only via a wink or a nudge, and house to house operations, or something on a ever expanding terrain of differation and complexity requires far more.... especially a very early neolithic culture with a questionable chain of command that must of existed in it's most rudimentary form.

So my assumption is, the Neanderthal became most adept at close encounters, and spread out in their formations to hunt to increase their ability to corral their prey. The hunting injuries are not so much from thrusting but rather from hold the damn creature like a line backers until your buddies dozens of meters off could close in on it from their portion of the line of hunt.

Homo Sapeins and Homo Erectus on the other hand could hear.... meaning they could detect prey in the bush or forest ten to twenty meters away without seeing it, meaning they could better stalk it from any direction, not just via tracking, but from any direction, and know if they are detected themselves. Evidence from my understanding is far more evident in Homo Erectus and Homo Sapien populations than in the Neanderthal. Also, a far more diverse system of attack via ambush as well as traveling overwatch and tracking via sound and/or sight would of been possible..... whereas the Neanderthal would only have sight.

Basically, I think the Neanderthal were just as advanced as humans cognitively.... they showed signs of technological efficiency at par with Sapiens, but their slowness to develop on their own, and adherence to a questionable form of attacking the megafauna of era suggest to me a severe handicap in their ability to coordinate actively IN the hunt, or make long term plans easily.

Some things I remember that go against my though. Discovery of Neanderthal noseplugs thought to be part of a flute of some kind. Also, a Neanderthal lunar calendar.... though I think it could of been easily enough of been transmitted via pointing at the moon and the space on the calender, especially among such a small group. The deftness gene might not of been active in all, or perhaps it was just partially active. The thing that bothers me most is, that once exposed to Homo Sapiens, they didn't show the ability to adapt over those thousands of years to play the same game we were playing. Homo Sapiens have shown it's strongest characteristic IS renaissance and the inertia carried by said renaissance often carry past the impetus that birthed it. Not so with the Neanderthal. They only MATCHED our accomplishments in the technological field, and then disappeared. This is why I think they had a handicap, and their increase ability to see theoretically better is a signature difference between us and them that might be able to help answer this mystery. A increase in sight was compensation? Does it relate to their adherence in the hunt? Does it suggest a social structure in the hunt? Would it effect thier ability to respond to the Sapiens encroachment who likely would of operated differently, given a different preference to sensory perception and sensory communication? We don't need no education? We don't need no false control? 

Would the Neanderthals of understood this song if born in the modern era?