Man Who’s Been Deaf His Whole Life Finally Hears Music For the First Time; Likes Classical, Hates “What Does the Fox Say”
Noisey has a fascinating interview with Austin Chapman, a 23-year old man who recently heard music the way it’s meant to be heard for the first time thanks to brand new hearing aids. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like for a deaf person to suddenly be given the gift of sound, well, this interview does a fine job at cutting right to the heart of it.
What made you want to get new hearing aids?
I didn’t want new hearing aids because I didn’t think there were any good ones after hearing through crap hearing aids for over 20 years. My parents told me to go in before I start paying my own health insurance to get a bigger discount under their plan. So I went in to demo two different brands and was properly blown away.
What were the hearing aids like before?
Garbled trash. They only allowed me to hear the low tones and also had zero clarity. Before I could see some shapes and colors, but now I’m seeing every detail and layer. It’s like I’m going from one or two colors to this fully 3D world.
Of the music Austin has listened to so far (and man, there’s a lot to catch up on!) he rates Mozart’s “Requiem” the highest, giving classical music in general a score of “99/100.” Modern music… not so much a fan.
What do you feel makes certain tracks good and certain tracks bad?
It’s personal taste but for the ones I like they’re really harmonious and melodic. The bad ones are loud and over exposed. It’s not entirely their fault but I stopped listening to radio a long time ago because of repeated songs. I love originality. Nothing sounds like “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
How would you describe the evolution of music? You’re in a pretty unique position to comment on it.
I wouldn’t call it evolution. It’s easier to find good songs pre-digital age. They end up sounding more authentic. Modern music is so much louder. But there are a few modern bands pushing music to the next level. I just didn’t expect to love classical more than any genre. So, from my point of view, music has been in a confused and downward spiral ever since classical ended. Some got close but no one has touched on Mozart’s requiem. I rank classical 99/100, the blues 91/100 and Reggae 85/100.
Based on his caricature of certain tracks as “loud and over exposed” and the so-called “confused and downward spiral” of modern music, welp, I’m afraid our friend Austin wouldn’t think too fondly of our own chosen favorite genre of music, although the interview didn’t think to play him a Pig Destroyer track. Squandered opportunity!
