But like many deaf people he's banging his head off a glass wall. And it hurts.

Now 33, this painful reminder has been with him since his teens when he left his deaf school feeling he hadn't gained an education which fulfilled his mind's potential. So he went off and pursued higher education with zeal.

"It's all motivated by bitterness really," he said. "There's something in my subconscious that just wants to prove my intelligence but at the same time I have to accept I'm deaf and accept it poses difficulties."

This sense of frustration is heightened by the fact that Lee is desperate to translate his engineering theory from the drawing board into a workable prototype that a business might want to finance and develop.

The theory is one of continuous variable transmission which, in lay terms, means removing the jumps between gear changes and replacing it with a smooth process of increasing power in certain types of machinery.

If he can patent the end product and sell it on it could not only make a name for himself but also make him, and anyone who helps him along the way, a lot of money.

"I wish," he says. "Though it's not about the money it's about developing my baby. I'd love to be able to take the idea and run with it but because I'm deaf I can only take little baby steps.

"So if I want to speak to people about funding or meet businesses I have to book an interpreter, which is dependent on me being able to get hold of one or being able to pay for one.

"And even then it isn't easy because I'd like to be able to relay my enthusiasm and specific ideas to someone who works within engineering.

Similarly I'd like to be able to understand their intonation and the nuances of what they're saying. But that's not easy to get when you're working through a third party.

"Sometimes it feels like you're climbing a mountain every time you feel like you're getting somewhere. Then, if that doesn't work out, you find you've slipped back down the other side of the mountain again."

Fortunately, he's talking to the Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People about helping him over these hurdles. In fact he's been intermittently using the services of the organisation for over ten years, when he first came to the area from his native Scotland.

Notably it was when he came to Leeds College of Technology to take a BTEC in Automotive Technology that he had one of his most positive educational experiences when he eventually received vital translation services.

From there he went on to King's College, London and got a 2:1 in his degree, finally graduating at the age of 30 and returning to Leeds, which he now thinks of as home. Unfortunately he's spent the last three years on benefits as he tries to pursue his dream.

Lee said: "I'd like to carry on and do another university course but it's difficult to get access to those courses even though some do have interpreters there.

"But for my assessment it's difficult to translate the information I sign into written English, which is what they want. Sadly my written English isn't too good because English is my second language."

Lee's predicament is one which affects millions of deaf people. Because British Sign Language is the principle mode of communication for deaf people – and relies on vision – it's difficult to grasp another mode of communication which is based around sound, particularly if you've never been able to hear.

Like his father and grandparents Lee was born deaf as a result of an inherited impairment. His brother and mother are also deaf and so was brought up in an environment which relied entirely on BSL.

Although his intelligence has helped him evolve within an English-speaking world, it still proves difficult for him.

It's a characteristic which he finds frustrating on a personal as well as a professional level.

"I have a girlfriend who I'm very happy with, we get on very well," said Lee. "But if I were single now there would be very few single deaf women I would want to be with.

"But at the same time if there was a woman who wasn't deaf or couldn't speak BSL I couldn't be bothered to teach somebody or go through the whole gesturing thing.
"I have known some people who've tried to muddle through in relationships and I've had relationships with women who could hear too, but it just hasn't worked out.

"And that's because intelligent conversation is so important to me and I couldn't have intelligent conversation in that kind of situation. You really need BSL to be able to develop a relationship.

"I don't even have a TV in my place because my girlfriend and I just sit for hours talking, that's how important it is to me and that's why, if I were single, I'd find it very hard to find the right person."
And as for friends?

"I actually have a mixture of friends," said Lee. "I particularly like my hearing friends because they have access to lots of other modes of information which they can then communicate to me, and I have a real thirst for knowledge.

"But, again, they have to be able to communicate with me on some level, in some depth, which is why I'd rather have a conversation with someone who is fluent in British Sign Language."

Perhaps surprisingly this situation is worse in Britain.
Lee said: "Europeans tend to be better at expressing themselves through non-verbal communication which means that, although I'm British, I can often communicate better with someone from the continent rather than my own country.

"That's possibly partly because Europeans tend to gesture more naturally as part of their culture whereas in Britain we have a bit more of a stiff upper lip, we don't like to be seen to be doing anything unusual in public."

It's easy to see how anyone, never mind an ambitious man of such advanced intelligence, would find living under these circumstances incredibly upsetting.

Lee suffered from depression in his early 20s and received help, but he still visits an analyst in order to come to terms with feeling restrained.

He said: "The thing is if you're a wheelchair user people can see you have some kind of disability but when you're deaf it isn't immediately obvious, if it's obvious at all. And of course the first time anyone does realise anything is different about you is when you speak to them and it's so difficult to communicate, or communicate in any depth, that you often end up walking away from situations out of sheer frustration.

"In turn that affects how you respond to people. People realise you are deaf and because it's often unfamiliar to them they focus on that, which I don't like, or I feel patronised.

"But the truth is I wish I could hear and when I see people speaking to each other people it hurts, you know, it makes me feel jealous. I'd just love to be able to sit down next to sit down next to a stranger on a bus, say hello and have a conversation with them."

l To find out more about the Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People call 0113 2438328 or visit www.leedsdeafandblind.org.uk