How Deaf people connect with music, from Beethoven to haptic vests

You might be surprised to learn that Deaf audiences are nothing new at venues like the Sydney Opera House.

In fact, deafness and classical music have been intertwined for centuries.

Some of the most well-known classical music, including Beethoven's Ode To Joy and Smetana's Vltava, were written after these composers lost their hearing through illness.

Other composers, including Gabriel Fauré and Ralph Vaughan Williams, experienced significant hearing loss later in life due to ageing and, in Vaughan Williams' case, the long-term effects of World War I.

Some of the world's most successful musicians today, including the renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, are profoundly deaf.

And Deafblind figures such as Helen Keller and Michelle Stevens, a contestant in the first season of The Piano, have also broadened our understanding of how people experience and engage with music.

Understanding their stories offers a fascinating window into the nuances of Deaf experience and the many ways people connect with music.

How Deaf people experience music

In 1924, Helen Keller wrote to the New York Philharmonic after experiencing a broadcast performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

By lightly touching the diaphragm of an uncapped radio speaker, Keller found she could not only feel the vibrations but also experience different instruments and voices.

"I could actually distinguish the cornets, the roil of the drums, deep-toned violas and violins singing in exquisite unison. How the lovely speech of the violins flowed and ploughed over the deepest tones of the other instruments!

"When the human voices leaped up thrilling from the surge of harmony, I recognised them instantly as voices more ecstatic, up-curving swift and flame-like, until my heart almost stood still."

More than a century later, orchestral music continues to resonate deeply with Deaf audiences, although how they engage is as varied as the individuals themselves.

For Alex Jones, a senior Access Manager at the Sydney Opera House, deafness is not just a physical condition but a cultural identity.

Profoundly deaf since birth and a native sign language user, Jones says he has "a really strong connection in my heart to music".

Raised by a Deaf mother, Jones grew up signing along to 1970s and 1980s pop ballads and Broadway musicals.

But it wasn't until joining the Sydney Opera House in 2025 that Jones experienced a full orchestral performance for the first time.

He attended Star Wars Live in Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

"It was the very first time that I could see the music of the film brought to life," Jones shares.

"I saw all of the instruments, the wind section, the drums, the cymbals, and then looking up to the screen and seeing the subtitles.

"It was a really profound experience. I was in tears from joy," Jones says.

"I decided strongly: I want the Deaf community to experience this."

Collaborations between Deaf and hearing artists

Collaborations between Deaf and hearing artists are one way to expand musical possibilities.

Many choirs in Australia have incorporated Auslan signers alongside singers. 

A landmark 2024 performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra integrated Auslan into the music, allowing Deaf and hearing audiences to engage with the work's poetry simultaneously.

Deaf artists are increasingly shaping how new musical works are created. 

At the same time, advances in haptic technology, which has been used to interpret sound since the 1990s, are creating new ways to experience music through touch.

One artist exploring these possibilities is Walter Kadiki.

As a Deaf poet, Kadiki has "always had music in my life [as] visual music".

"Everything you see in the world that has movement, that movement becomes poetry, which becomes music," Kadiki explains in an interview with Radio National's Tracey Holmes.

In August, Kadiki took part in Australia's first orchestral work to combine chamber music, Auslan poetry and wearable haptic vests.

These are body packs, wrist and ankle bands that translate live music into vibrations across points of the body.

For the performance, pianist and composer Andrea Keller set some of Kadiki's poetry to music while Marnie Kerridge, a deaf artist and Auslan educator performed in Auslan.

Kerridge describes the experience: "Walter and I were telling a story to our audience through poetry, sign and music. The orchestra elevated the experience."

The opportunity to work with Deaf artists was "incredibly exciting, but also a learning curve," Keller says.

"I was dealing with the [Auslan] poetry itself, trying to understand the deeper connections, and then there were the haptic vests thrown in," Keller says.

"I had to think about the different elements of music that are actually going to translate well through the vest's vibrations for anyone experiencing it."

"Almost like a vibration massage," Kerridge recalls the experience.

In recent years, "the vests have become a good tool to improve and enhance some specific parts of the music," Kadiki says.

Wearing a haptic vest while working with Keller allowed Kadiki to "feel the specific notes vibrating in different ways that really expanded my experience of the finer details of the music."

But he adds that the vests do not provide Deaf people with "a full experience of music". 

Rather, they offer "a backup support", especially for people who enjoy connecting with sound through vibrations.

Creating musical pathways for the Deaf community

Not all Deaf musicians rely on haptic technology to connect with music.

One of the most celebrated Deaf artists, Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie, engages with music through a finely honed ability to distinguish musical pitch using a combination of vibrations and visual cues.

During the 2012 London Olympics, Glennie led 1,000 drummers in a performance at the Opening Ceremony.

She has performed as a soloist with some of the world's leading orchestras and released more than 60 albums, ranging from percussion concertos to improvisations with folk and pop bands.

Expanding access and artistic possibilities is one thing, but creating sustainable careers for Deaf musicians is another.

Jones believes the mainstream music industry "is not ready for deaf musicians and deaf composers".

He points to initiatives such as Songsmiths, created by Accessible Arts in Sydney, which is helping Deaf artists "develop their musical practice and build resilience" as they navigate the industry.

Jones is also drawing on his lived experience to broaden access for Deaf audiences at the Sydney Opera House, particularly through his work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

"Not all deaf people have the same preferences when it comes to the types of music they enjoy," Jones says.

And Jones explains that deafness exists on a spectrum: "Some people have access to sound, some have more, while others have none."

That diversity shapes how Deaf audiences engage with classical music.

Jones has never had access to sound.

"[So] having access to a conductor who could unpack the music, explain what the music means and how it was formulated had a profound impact on building my understanding of sounds and appreciation," he says.

Jones says programs such as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Listen to This series can help make classical music more accessible by providing that broader context.

"It's helped me understand the composer's history, their life story, and how their experiences influenced their music, contextualising the work within their life," Jones says.

The orchestra's upcoming Auslan-interpreted Discover Beethoven concert offers one point of connection for Deaf audiences, according to Jones.

While Beethoven is arguably one of the most famous deaf musicians in classical music history, Jones says his experience is only one among many within the Deaf community.

"When we talk about different deaf audiences, some may share that experience of being later deafened, as was Beethoven, whereas others don't have that experience," he explains.

What counts most is "understanding [the Deaf community's] desires, their needs, what works, what doesn't work," Jones says.