# Deaf musicians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620 "2013-08-19T07:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/1 "2013-08-19T07:10:32Z")
Are there any deaf-since-birth musicians? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/2 "2013-08-19T07:45:30Z")
This page from Mental Floss lists half a dozen modern deaf musicians. Not all of them were deaf from birth, though. > **[Roll Over Beethoven: 6 Modern Deaf Musicians](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/25750/roll-over-beethoven-6-modern-deaf-musicians)** > > Famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven began to lose his hearing around the age of 25. By the time of his death, he was completely deaf. But that never stopped him from writing some of the most beautiful music the world has ever known. Beethoven is... Looking down the list, Sean Forbes lost his hearing when he was one year old, which is pretty close to being deaf from birth for all practical purposes. Also on their list is the musical group The Hi Notes, headed by Danny Lane who has been deaf from birth. Wikipedia’s list of deaf musicians ( [Category:Deaf musicians - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:deaf_musicians) ) lists Billy Hoffman, who “was born with a hearing problem and is only three percent away from being deaf” (so not quite per the OP but close). ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/3 "2013-08-19T09:24:55Z")
> [@](#): > > and is only three percent away from being deaf Three percent of what? Hearing losses are not measured by percentages… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/4 "2013-08-19T10:24:30Z")
Yes they are, it’s one of the ways in which they’re measured: for a given frequency, “no hearing at all” is 0% and “what’s considered normal” is 100%. The difference between “normal” and what you have is the loss. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/5 "2013-08-19T12:29:22Z")
I was going to say [Evelyn Glennie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Glennie), a percussionist who is profoundly deaf and performs barefoot to feel the vibrations of the music. But she started to lose her hearing at 8 (completely by 12) so perhaps she doesn’t fit your criteria? ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/6 "2013-08-19T19:57:02Z")
Moving over to CS. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaf-musicians/666620/7 "2013-08-19T23:12:20Z")
> [@Girl\_From\_Mars](#): > > I was going to say [Evelyn Glennie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Glennie), a percussionist who is profoundly deaf and performs barefoot to feel the vibrations of the music. But she started to lose her hearing at 8 (completely by 12) so perhaps she doesn’t fit your criteria? I’ve heard her perform twice with the Montreal Symphony and she is amazing. She plays only percussion instruments, but that includes bells, xylophones, and other things with tones. I heard her interviewed on radio and, as far as I can tell, she was lip-reading the interviewer perfectly. And speaking perfectly (albeit with a strong Scots accent) too, which is also amazing. I one met a deaf man who had gone deaf at age 30 and this was 30 years later and he was very hard to understand. Getting back to Glennie. She trained herself to “hear” with her bones. She would place her arm on a wall and have someone play two different notes. At first, she couldn’t distinguish two notes until they were a fifth apart. But eventually, she could distinguish half tones. Now she uses her feet, playing barefoot as noted. And she dances. After all, she is facing a half dozen or more musical instruments, some of them large and is constantly moving from one to another. Fascinating to watch and listen to. But no, she had normal hearing till age 8. Interestingly, the interviewer asked her whether she would choose to have her hearing restored if this were to become possible. She said, “No, my entire professional persona is tied up with what I do deaf.”