Musicians And Deafness

On sciencedaily.com, I read that Deaf people sense vibration in the part of the brain that other people use for hearing. And this helps explain how deaf musicians can sense music, and how deaf people can enjoy concerts and other musical events. This information suggest that the experience deaf people have when feeling music is similar to the experience other people have when hearing music. I also read that the brain is adaptable. When someone is deaf, the brain processes vibrations in the part of the brain that would otherwise be used to process sound. A study was held at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain activity between 10 volunteers from the college (that are deaf) and 11 volunteers with normal hearing. The research showed that both groups showed brain activity in the part of the brain that normally processed vibrations. But in addition, the deaf students showed brain activity in a golf ball-sized area, the auditory cortex, which usually is only active during audio stimulation. The people with normal hearing did not show this brain activity. This research shows me that deaf people can enjoy music just as much as those who can hear do. When I first heard that Beethoven, arguably the world’s best musical composer, was deaf I thought it was impossible. I thought to myself “How can people who cannot hear, enjoy and conduct music without being able to actually hear it”. But now I know that their brains adapt so that they can enjoy music. I conducted a test. I covered my ears and blasted a song really loud on my speakers. By feeling the vibrations and bass, I was able to identify the song. I was able to get a little taste of how deaf people enjoyed music.