Deaf Man Hears Music For The First Time

The 23-year-old filmmaker, whose life has largely been visual until now, still struggles to adequately explain the rush of new sounds echoing through his head. He compares them at one point to seeing a high-resolution photograph for the first time. Later, he describes the sensation as being exposed to a color you've never seen before.

Finally, with a broad smile on his face he offers this analogy: "It's like the first time you kiss a girl. It's like that."

The experience came as he cruised around his Orange County, Calif., neighborhood with friends soon after getting the new hearing aids. He had always wanted to really hear Mozart, so his friends put on "Lacrimosa," the brooding work the composer completed on his death bed in 1791.

"I was in the car and it was quite an experience," recalls Kyle Sinnott, Chapman's best friend since high school. "He was nodding his head and moving his fingers. He cried at one point, and the same goes for everybody in the car. Everybody let out a tear."

I cannot imagine what life would be like without sound.  Most of us couldn't.  However, this man knows and has seen both sides.  It's interesting to read his journey, and the full article is very thorough.  It describes the confusion and the irritating inability to just mute the world.  Unlike what we see, what we hear has layers and distortions that we can't just turn off.  Babies sound funny to him, and I'm sure downtown traffic can be maddening.

Still, it's a heartwarming story, enjoy!