Op-ed for Cochlear

SINGAPORE: How do deaf people listen to music? Is it possible for them to do so? If you were at Coldplay’s concert in Singapore recently, you’d have seen them dance and groove to the beat alongside their hearing counterparts.

In what has been touted as a “game-changing” standard for concerts in Singapore, a team of sign language interpreters at Coldplay’s concerts gained much attention for their enthusiastic gestures and expressive movements, making music accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Frontman Chris Martin also personally signed a segment in the show, while vibrating vests allowed users to feel the beat of the music.

Unlike in the past when bridging the hearing loss gap meant exclusively relying on one’s loved ones to sign or speak louder, people with hearing loss are starting to see improved accessibility emerge in their lives.

Increasingly, concert venues are making more of an effort to ensure that the deaf community can enjoy the shows. London's Wembley Stadium in June 2022 started offering sign language as a guaranteed service for every live concert.

American Sign Language performers have also been a tradition at the Super Bowl; Rihanna’s interpreter Justina Miles stole the thunder at the halftime show last year. And rap fans are obsessed with Holly Maniatty, referring to her as “rap god” for her hyper-speed interpretations at shows by legends like Snoop Dogg and Eminem.

Can we expect Singapore’s live music scene to be more inclusive as well?

Stumbling Blocks

It takes a fair amount of work to make a concert venue disability inclusive. For starters, the constraints of a venue can limit their efforts to enhance accessibility. Then there is the vast array of hearing conditions to consider, including tinnitus, diplacusis (hearing two different pitches from a single note) and all other sensorineural losses, auditory processing disorders, and mixtures of all the above.

Regardless of the extent of their disability, it is a fact that many people with hearing loss tend to face challenges in loud places. At concerts, they don’t experience live music the way that is widely known.

However, they can feel the vibrations and enjoy the visual aspects of the show. The humming sound produced by picking a bass string or the boom of the drums pulse is a way for them to “listen” to the music. It’s a longstanding part of their concert experience.

For some with still some capacity to hear, they may hear a wider makeup of the music but even that could be obscured by crowd noise.

Some concertgoers find this good enough, but still, can more be done to elevate their sense of fun? What could tempt those still reluctant or non-concertgoers into a concert hall?

No Longer Tone Deaf

Many concert organisers have explored assistive technologies that provide opportunities for people to realise the full potential of their live music experience. For instance, vibrating vests and floors, and wearable sensors can be used to enable full-body listening in a never-seen-before way.

Noise-cancelling headphones can be provided to those who need it. And soon enough, it may also be possible to explore Bluetooth technologies like Auracast, which streams audio directly to cochlear implant sound processors to enhance the concert experience for recipients. No longer relegated to producing sound at a pre-fixed volume, newer models of cochlear implants also contain adjustable settings that allow individuals to adapt to the sound profiles of their surroundings.

More noticeably, concert organisers are starting to make it a practice to hire sign language interpreters that can help deliver the same high many fans get at concerts. There are nuances to navigate here.

First, because Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) is used in the deaf community here, local interpreters are needed for the job as foreign interpreters would unlikely have the fluency to interpret songs in SgSL.

Second, there has not been much demand for song interpreting in Singapore. In interviews after the Coldplay concerts, the interpreters said that they conducted through research to come up with their own ways of offering vivid visual interpretations to convey the metaphorical meanings of the lyrics effectively.

Interpreting a song can be a tiring process as song interpreters must use their hands, legs and facial expressions to express the mood and tone of each song. They must figure out a way to preserve their energy throughout the duration of the concert and yet interpret not only the song lyrics, but also the instruments used in the background music.

But, that is not all. While live music is important, the truth is that the concert experience starts from the moment a person arrives at the venue and ends the moment they leave. Concert organisers must also think about how best to help fans get in and out of the venue in a way that makes them comfortable.

For example, do announcements need to be made from traditional speakers? Can they be streamed directly to hearing aids? For those with autism, how could the sensory overload from the lights, noise and what else be reduced?

In short, if live music is to become truly accessible, we must think about how the concert experience might be understood differently by people with different degrees of hearing loss. Standard reproductions at concerts continue to be a practice today, but the more concerts like Coldplay lead by example, the more likely the other concerts will learn from their best practices and join them.