A Blog by daystar297
The peculiar relationship between music and deaf people has been given a fanfare of publicity recently with the discovery that noise-induced hearing loss may owe as much to genetic as any physical exposure. The Daily Mail tastefully offered this in terms of Beethoven’s hearing problems – a stereotype which may offer a convenient journalistic peg on which to hang a story, but nonetheless one that does nothing to advance the general depiction of disability in the media.
Research carried out at the University of Southern California has recently shown that some people may have a relatively high-genetic predisposition to noise-induced hearing loss. The findings come at a time when hearing issues are increasingly significant. Teenage use of headphones has been shown to cause permanent hearing impairment with more than 15% of US teens affected, and recent research has also found that US military veterans are up to 30% more likely to experience hearing problems than the civilian population. Hearing-related issues are, inevitably, likely to become increasingly topical over the years ahead.
Music and the Deaf
One organization that has been campaigning in this area for a number of years is Music and the Deaf which regularly stages events and promotes the involvement of deaf people of all ages in live music events. For example, they staged the Music for Life conference which took place in York this February and which brought together professionals working with deaf people with the declared aim of promoting improved mental and emotional wellbeing. Supported and promoted by commercial sponsors such as HiddenHearing (HH), who carry a permanent link on the HH website, Music and the Deaf has been a registered UK charity since 2010 and has become something of a co-ordinating hub for the deaf community’s musical expression.
Regular events include dedicated music clubs, workshops and sponsored talks from some of the most respected authorities in the country as well as practical hands-on experiences – some of them truly inspiring. Signing choirs and the opportunity for youngsters to sit within the resonating pit of a real live orchestras offer the kind of musical immersion and collective emotional experience that the rest of us take for granted.
Ongoing research
With demand for hearing-enhancing technologies becoming ever more persistent, it is hardly surprising that deafness is attracting research funding from a variety of disciplines. Recent advances have included Strathclyde University’s prototyping of directionally sensitive microphone technologies, based on the directional hearing apparatus of insects. A further recent advance is the finding at Aarhus University in Denmark that even primitive creatures such as lung-fish, to which all land-based animal life owes an evolutionary debt, are capable of experiencing sound vibrations even though they do not have any hearing faculty as such.
Although such research may appear somewhat arcane, as we have found in numerous other areas, a small, seemingly insignificant breakthrough in one area can pave the way for more practical advances elsewhere. Deafness and hearing impairment are increasingly being recognised and their associated issues addressed. At the same time, and perhaps more importantly, the message that music and deafness may involve a two-way relationship is increasingly being broadcast.