This just looks like a rough summary of a Reddit thread. Where's the discussion of why he was deaf, what he could and could not hear before, and what the new hearing aids did differently? I want to know more about the medical cause of his deafness, and the technology behind the hearing aids.
I am curious to what he could hear before but only from the standpoint of having worked with a deaf person back in my high school days. He felt the music more than hearing it is probably the best way I can phrase it. So in his car the music was always loud and not always of the same genre. Strong bass guitar and of course drums of any type appealed because he could feel the beat. Subtle sounds would probably be missed completely.
>When Mozart's Lacrimosa came on, I was blown away by the beauty of it. At one point of the song, it sounded like angels singing and I suddenly realized that this was the first time I was able to appreciate music. Tears rolled down my face and I tried to hide it.
It's a fairly simply-described reaction that a non-deaf person could have to that piece just because of its beauty not because they are hearing music for the first time.
Yeah, but you seem to be assuming that the experience would be completely alien, a language needing to be learned so to speak. I'm not so sure about that, perhaps music being the most visceral of the arts, does not require interpretation or explanation, so that even the unschooled ear can apprehend beauty.
I've no idea if it would be any different for a deaf person to hear music for the first time than for a normal person to hear music, and if it is different I don't know if there is any way to answer "What It's Like for a Deaf Person to Hear Music for the First Time".
My point was that this article really doesn't cover that question, as you said it did.
While it doesn't fully convey the depth of his emotion, or likely even allow us to fully imagine it, I think that looking at the article as a whole, we can see that he basically now can experience music in ways very similar to (and likely the same as) the way we do. He cries to it. He has samples several different kinds of music, and has definite feelings about the genres (e.g., classical vs country). He's actively seeking out new music, and is finding ways to describe (very well, IMO) _why_ he likes one or the other better. He's found a song that he has had to listen to over-and-over.
I think that covers "what it's like" from an emotional perspective very well. It was profoundly moving for me to read this.
