Sitting at a table in Borders, Terri Welch and Aaron Downing were deep in conversation without saying a word.

This is not uncommon at Deaf Chat Coffee.

Deaf Chat Coffee meets from 5 to 8 p.m. every third Friday of the month at Borders Books and Music, 2520 Sycamore Road.

The DeKalb group started last year in August as a social gathering for the hearing and hearing impaired. It helps people learn how to sign and interact with hearing-impaired people, said Terri Welch, the event leader, translated by Aaron Downing.

The amount of people who attend depends on the day and season, Welch said.

Last month, about 15 people attended the October event.

Welch is also the event leader of the Rockford chapter of Deaf Chat Coffee.

Aaron Downing, a Sycamore resident, attends Deaf Chat Coffee for multiple reasons.

“My wife grew up hard of hearing and never knew sign, so this helps her learn sign,” Downing said. He also said knowing sign language may help him in the future to communicate with patients in his nursing career.

“Mainly, it is to socialize with friends,” Downing said. “We are like everyone else who sits and talks over coffee.”

The national Deaf Chat Coffee Web site was created in April 2003 as a way to “maintain a point of reference for all Deaf Chat Coffee socials so that anybody could keep up-to-date from anywhere,” according to the Web site.

The site provides information for all the Deaf Chat Coffee events in 43 U.S. states and some areas in Canada.

Other cities in Illinois that host Deaf Chat Coffee events are Moline, Chicago, Carbondale, Milan, Batavia, Schaumburg, Mundelein and Orland Park. All information about the different events can be found on the Deaf Chat Coffee Web site, www.deafchatcoffee.com.

Anyone is welcomed to attend Deaf Chat Coffee, free of charge.

The DeKalb chapter of Deaf Chat Coffee meets from 5 to 8 p.m. every third Friday of the month at Borders Books and Music, 2520 Sycamore Road.

The Rockford chapter meets from 4 to 8:30 p.m. every first Friday of the month at Bad Ass Coffee, 3885 N. Perryville Road.

For more information, visit www.deafchatcoffee.com or contact Terri Welch at [email protected].