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The deaf mind has just as much potential, if not more, than hearing people.
I think that a big reason why I became so passionate about filmmaking is because,
when I was growing up, I did not have good communication skills.
I went to a mainstream school so I had a really hard time communicating with other people;
but with movies or novels, that was a world that I could understand.
When I got my new hearing aids, the first thing I did was go home and text all my friends and say,
"I don't know how well I can hear music now, but I know I'm hearing way better than I've ever heard,
and I want to hear music tonight. So let's all come over, listen to music with me for the first time ever."
So all my friends came over and we were in my car and we put on Mozart and it started playing.
And half-way through the song I realized: I've never heard this before; I'm hearing sounds I've never heard before.
It's so surreal. And I just broke down and at the end of the song, everyone in the car was crying, too.
It was like seeing a new color for the first time ever. I knew that my life would never be the same.
My friend told me that I have to write about it on Reddit, and I was like,
"I don't know; it's really personal."
And he was like, "No, you have to Austin; please post it on Reddit."
So I said, "Okay," and I posted on Reddit, and one week later I had over 14.000 comments.
It was really mind-blowing. I didn't even realize that that many people cared.
[Music is playing]
I really like classical. I can understand it the most compared to other stuff.
Think about it. If you had a blind person who has been blind his whole life,
all of the sudden, he can see.
If you gave that blind person a book, he would not be able to read.
He could see every word, but he'd have to learn how to read - he's never seen the words before.
But if you show a blind person a picture or a beautiful painting,
he will understand, even though he has never seen the painting.
Before, with my old hearing aids, I did not have an understanding of music.
So when I would think about my movies or my scripts, I never thought about music.
I would just leave the music to other people.
But now that I have an understanding of sound, music, and soundtrack, I'm imagining the actual soundtrack.
I'm thinking about the film and I have very specific things that I know - things that will happen -
"this sound is going to be like this for the part," and so on.
So it's really kind of like opened a whole new world for me when I'm caught up in the movie,
because sound can be so powerful, if used right.
I got to experience something new late in life.
You know, if I was born hearing I would not have appreciated it as much.
But the fact that I've never had it until now makes it so much more powerful.
You don't know what you're missing until you have it.