Is there a way to set up a dial tone or a way for someone who is hard of hearing to have the phone set up to make a noise when I hold it up to my ear?

I'm also not sure what you want to accomplish by this. Until you hit the "call" button, the phone is not 'off hook' like a traditional landline would be. There is no such thing as a dial tone on any cell phone. The dial tone was simply a carrier signal from the central office that prepared that end to listen for the pulses (later tones) generated when you dialed.

Not sure I understand what you want to achieve, but you should go to Settings> General> Accessibility and see if any of the available options help you.