Many people assume that Deaf people live in a “silent world". They cannot hear sounds, and they cannot speak very well, which means that the world is silent to them and they are silent in the world. Is that true?
What is silence? The complete absence of sound. What is sound? This is a really simple question. Sound is defined as vibrations that travel through the air as an audible mechanical wave from a vibrating body. The ears turn this wave into auditory information for Hearing people to perceive sound. According to the World Health Organization’s definition of Deafness, people who are Deaf may have little hearing or no hearing at all. Since Deaf people cannot hear sounds of the rain, a kitten’s purr, and the sizzle of bacon in the morning sunshine, and they can hardly speak vocally to others, then they must live in a silent world based on the definition of "silence”. But just like the musical symbol p that means playing softly, being Deaf means to play upon thousands and millions of p in the current audio centric society, however they will never reach complete silence.
Deaf people perceive sounds through various body senses. Raindrops kiss your hand as they pour on a rainy day, the feeling of a kitten rubbing against you and the smell of the sizzling bacon in the morning sunshine. Instead of hearing sound, Deaf people feel sound. Even though they perceive sound, music, and noises differently than the hearing communities, it does not mean that they cannot perceive sound or the world is "silent" to them. They feel sounds through touch, smell, sight and taste, they feel sounds through physical vibrations, experiences, and imagination. According to Dr. Dean Shibata at the University of Washington, Deaf people sense vibrations in the part of the brain that Hearing people use for hearing, it is like one modality replaces the other modality in the same processing region of the brain for Deaf people. Although Deaf people can perceive sound, the absence of pitch, tone, and other audible cues still make it hard for most Deaf people to communicate in the same way that Hearing people communicate, but does that mean that they are “silent”?
Deaf people may not be able to speak vocally as clearly as the Hearing people, however they have other ways to effectively communicate. Movement speaks.
Growing up as a dancer, I have always found how dancing connects the world of sound and music through movement really fascinating. In dancing, communication is not about speaking with sound, it is about speaking with movement. Just like how dancing transfers sound through the form of visual art, sign languages also use the medium of sound through the conceptualism in visual art. All the hand shape, location, movement, orientation and non manual movement in sign languages work together to create and present completely different meanings. The same applies to dancing in regards to body, action, space, time and energy.
Next, I will be referencing the American Sign Language (ASL) to provide specific examples of how this type of communication works. For instance in ASL, an index finger wiggling can have many meanings depending on the other fingers’ orientations, and the sign area’s location. By opening and closing the index and thumb in front of your mouth, this means bird. Whereas opening and closing the index and middle finger twice with the thumb touching the nose means bug. Small changes in its elements can lead to completely different meanings, just like if we were to change a word in a sentence, it can sometimes completely change its meanings. ASL is like pressing the harmonic chord in a piano piece, any changes in its elements can lead to completely different “sounds” and meanings. Sign language is just one of the ways the Deaf community uses to communicate and “speak” loudly to the world. If you want to learn more about the power of sign languages, I encourage you to watch this TED talk by Deaf sound artist Christine Sun Kim.
Now, lets come back to the question "What is silence?". Silence is the absence of communication, it is when we, the Hearing communities choose to close our eyes and ears for open communication with the Deaf community. Although Deaf people may not be able to perceive audible sound in the way that we perceive it, but they are using their movement and bodies to “hear” and “speak” with the world. Sometimes, we just have to LISTEN. In the current audio-centric world filled with noises like cars honking, dogs barking, and babies crying, we may have silenced the Deaf community, and their voices. In order to overcome this barrier in between communities, we must give ourselves the opportunity to listen and give Deaf people the chance to speak as well. Let us open our ears, open our eyes and take part in the Deaf culture and experience sign language, let us tear down the brick wall that has been insulating the sound between the Hearing and Deaf communities, and this could possibly be a step towards a more inclusive society.
References
Deaf People Sense Vibrations in Auditory Cortex. (2002, June 30). Retrieved from
Deafness and hearing loss. (2020, March 1). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-
room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss#:~:text=Hearing loss and deafness,said
to have hearing loss.&text='Deaf' people mostly have profound,use sign language for
communication.
Kim, C. S. (n.d.). Transcript of "The enchanting music of sign language". Retrieved from
Silence. (2020, May 25). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence
Sound. (2020, May 29). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound
Symbol Font for ASL. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://aslfont.github.io/Symbol-Font-For-
ASL/elements-of-asl.html#:~:text=Traditionally, the five elements of,Location
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