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A deaf man hears music _ and can't stop listening - Women Analog Watch - Mens Analog Watch Manufact by e55he swrzsnb
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A deaf man hears music _ and can't stop listening - Women Analog Watch - Mens Analog Watch Manufact by E55HE SWRZSNB
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| Article Posted: 09/18/2013 |
| Article Views: 60 |
| Articles Written: 2033 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
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A deaf man hears music _ and can't stop listening - Women Analog Watch - Mens Analog Watch Manufact |
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By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - Austin Chapman figured his short films must bepretty good because they've been sweeping major awards on theindependent film festival circuit the past couple of years. He was never quite sure about the soundtracks, however, becauseChapman, who is deaf, could never really hear them. Or any other music. Then, a month ago he popped a brand new pair of bright orange,state-of-the art hearing aids into his ears and his world waschanged forever. He cranked up Mozart's "Lacrimosa" and suddenlytears of joy streamed spontaneously down his face.
He turned onRadiohead and Devo and an epiphany occurred. After years of scratching his head as friends around him snappedtheir fingers to the beat of Rolling Stones songs or got up andmoved to the wave of electronic dance music created by DJMoonboots, Chapman suddenly understood what this human fascinationwith sound was all about. The 23-year-old filmmaker, whose life has largely been visual untilnow, still struggles to adequately explain the rush of new soundsechoing through his head. He compares them at one point to seeing ahigh-resolution photograph for the first time.
Later, he describesthe sensation as being exposed to a color you've never seen before. Finally, with a broad smile on his face he offers this analogy:"It's like the first time you kiss a girl. It's like that." The experience came as he cruised around his Orange County, Calif.,neighborhood with friends soon after getting the new hearing aids.He had always wanted to really hear Mozart, so his friends put on"Lacrimosa," the brooding work the composer completed on his deathbed in 1791. "I was in the car and it was quite an experience," recalls KyleSinnott, Chapman's best friend since high school. "He was noddinghis head and moving his fingers.
He cried at one point, and thesame goes for everybody in the car. Everybody let out a tear." Soon Chapman was playing "Brain Damage" from Pink Floyd's "DarkSide of the Moon," and humming along to the ethereal "wooh oooh"guitar part that surfaces eerily throughout the song. Music was in his brain and he couldn't get it out. Not that he's embraced every new sound he's been hearing sincegetting his new, improved Phonak hearing aids. To his dismay, he can suddenly make out the sounds of otherpeople's conversations that he'd never heard before.
Rather thanenjoy his new eavesdropping skills, he finds them annoying. "When I hear the talking, I want to say, 'QUIET! SILENCE!' he sayswith a laugh as he sits in a downtown deli on a recent afternoon,trying to ignore the conversation at a nearby table. The sound of a baby cooing does please him. "I've never heard a baby talk before," he says, smiling in wonder."Their voices are too high." Born profoundly deaf, Chapman's condition was diagnosed when he wasabout a year old when his mother noticed he didn't flinch when adoor was slammed behind him. Neither his parents nor his sisterhave a hearing impairment, and he says doctors don't really knowwhy he was afflicted.
Although he had worn his old hearing aids for only four years, theyhad already become outmoded. All he could make out with them werelow sounds like those made by a bass guitar. Sometimes a mid-rangetone would break through, but high tones didn't exist in Chapman'sworld. It was the same when it came to listening to a conversation.
Hecould hear someone speaking directly to him in a clear voice,especially if it was someone with a deep voice and someone he knewand the sound of whose voice he had come to recognize. But hestruggled to hear people talking in higher tones, something he saidled him to avoid striking up conversations with strangers. He'sless reluctant to do so now. He and others have been the beneficiaries of a remarkablebreakthrough in digital technology in recent years that has madesmall hearing aids far more powerful, particularly in picking uphigher pitched sounds, says Gisele Ragusa, a University of SouthernCalifornia professor and expert in deaf education.
She's watched as children were suddenly able to hear music for thefirst time and noticed they were often frightened until they gotused to the new sounds. She's not entirely surprised that an adultwould react differently, particularly after years of seeing friendsenjoy something he could only hear fragments of, which she notesmust have been annoying. "He would probably feel elated and excited, and also have somesense of confusion at first, until he got used to recognizing whathe was hearing," she said. Chapman quickly posted word of his audio breakthrough on the socialnetwork reddit.com, asking others what he should listen to next.
Tohis amazement, within days he had more than 14,000 suggestions,everything from Beethoven to the Beatles. He's holding out on that latter suggestion, at least for now,although he says he will eventually obtain every album the Beatlesever recorded and sit down and listen to them all. "I'm waiting until I have a really good sound system," he says witha chuckle. "I want to sit down, and when I hear the Beatles for thefirst time, I want to really hear the Beatles." In the meantime, he's rewatching his short films, listening to thesoundtracks others created and looking forward to someday doing hisown. His first work, "At the Altar," was made when he was a student atPepperdine University and won the award for best cinematography atthe Reelstories Film Festival in 2010.
"Eleven Eleven," a hauntingly beautiful film about a young deaf manwho finds his soul mate, only to lose her to death after one day,was honored with the festival's grand prize and audience choiceawards last year. Also that year, his documentary "City of Widows"was honored for its story about the fate of young women in Indiawho are banished to a life of poverty after their husbands' deaths. Since graduating last year, Chapman has worked as a freelancefilmmaker. He also runs the website artofthestory.com.
His ambitionis to eventually make a feature film. Before music entered his life Chapman says he never gave muchthought to what his lack of hearing might be causing him to miss.After all, he can read lips, communicate in American sign languageand he speaks fluently, though with the pronounced accent ofsomeone who is profoundly deaf and who for most of his life couldnever clearly hear himself speak. "I was a really happy person," he says. "I was really happy all thetime." Then, after a moment's thought, he adds with a smile, "Now I'm evenhappier." Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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