"Deaf people love music just as
much as hearing people do
...they just understand it differently.
They can feel it."
--Karla Quinonez
("Deaf Nation Celebrates Life." Oakland Tribune. 2005 Nov 12)
Music and the Deaf
By Rachel Burgin
3/27/2008
Deaf people are able to enjoy and love music just as anyone else.
They do not feel that their lack of hearing handicaps them or is an
imposition. Karla Quinonez explains, "Deaf people love music just as
much as hearing people do...they just understand it differently.
They can feel it." (Ell, 2005). This is in the most literal
sense as well as emotional. The part of the brain that normally
processes sound to those who can hear is the same portion that the
brains of hearing impaired use to process vibrations of sound. Since
these different processes take place in the same area of the brain,
the experiences are equivalent in sound.
Dr. Dean Shibata, assistant professor of radiology at Washington
University, conducted a study that would expose how the brains of
deaf people processed sound in comparison to brains of those who can
hear. Both groups showed regular activity in the same area of the
brain. Unlike the hearing group, the deaf group actually registered
brain activity in a small area called the auditory cortex that does
not usually register activity caused by auditory stimulation.
Shibata says, "These findings illustrate how altered experience can
affect brain organization." (Science Daily, 2001).
New research has resulted in new ways for the non-hearing to
experience sound. Dr. Shibata maintains that it may be imperative to
expose children to music as early as possible to help stimulate the
development of the brain’s "music centers." Also, there are devices
that help with perception of sound and volume. (Petit, 2003)
With all this new development in help for the hearing impaired,
it has become apparent that the rift between those who can hear and
those who cannot is no longer an impedance. Deaf people are
capable of using other ways to explore sound as waves, patterns, and
movement in all types of mediums. (Gray).
Ell, Kellie. "Deaf Nation Celebrates Life." Oakland Tribune. 2005
Nov 12
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20051112/ai_n158
Gray, Eileen. "Evelyn Glennie." London Independent. 2007 March 27.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070327/ai_187
Petit, Bruno. "Music for Deaf Persons." Disability World. No 20
Sep-Oct 2003.
http://disabilityworld.org/09-10_03/arts/music.shtml
Science Daily. "Brains of Deaf People Re-wire to ’Here’ Music." 2001
Nov 28.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011128035455.htm