HLAA-TC Book Club met on Thursday, May 29th and welcomed author Matt Hay to talk about his memoir “Soundtrack of Silence: love, loss and a playlist for life.” Below is a summary with links of our discussion.

• Synopsis: “As a child, Matt Hay didn’t know his hearing wasn’t the way everyone else processed sound-and like a lot of kids who do workarounds to fit in… But as a prospective college student who couldn’t pass the entrance requirements for West Point, Hay’s condition, generated by a tumor, was unavoidable: his hearing was going, and fast. Soundtrack of Silence was his determined compensation for his condition: a typical Midwestern kid growing up in the 1980s, whose life events were pegged to pop music, Hay planned to commit his favorite songs to memory…”
• Author Website
• Author’s Biography (from author’s website): “Matt Hay, MBA has a 25-year journey toward deafness (and subsequent recovery with his auditory brainstem implant). He shared his story on a National Public Radio (NPR) podcast titled Soundtrack of Silence. The intimate, funny and authentic segment inspired actor Channing Tatum and Paramount Pictures to option the motion picture rights to Matt’s life story and St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of MacMillan Books to option his memoir.”
• “Soundtrack of Silence” NPR podcast from April 11, 2017 (no transcript or captions)
• Author Interviews:
  • Hearing Wellness Journey Podcast a video podcast.
  • Matt Hay’s TEDx Talk: “What losing (and regaining) my hearing taught me about resilience”
  • Matt was the cover story of the September 2020 issue of HLAA’s Hearing Life magazine. Read the article here.
  • Article by Matt Hay on Neurofibromatosis Type 2
  • Video Podcast: Hearing Matters (interview)
• On Neurofibromatosis Type 2:
  • Description of NF2 on the Johns Hopkins website. (The condition Hay has that affected his hearing.)
• Critical Reception of Book:
  • Reader Reviews (average rating is 4.14)
  • Professional Reviewer Reviews:
    • BookPage
    • Living With Hearing Loss (A Blog by Shari Eberts)
• Themes Discussed:
  • Global Health Leadership: Matt had just got back from a trip to Bangkok. He is getting his doctorate in public health and travels periodically for that.
  • Disability Accessibility in Public Health: Matt discussed his personal experience as a deaf person and his interest in public health, focusing on health equity and accessibility for people with disabilities.
  • Memoir Writing: Matt shared his journey of writing a memoir, discussing his initial hesitation due to feelings of egotism and the responsibility of accurately representing his family’s perspectives. Matt also highlighted the process of selecting content that resonated with his younger self, aiming to provide valuable insights and perspectives.
  • Music and Hearing Loss Awareness: Matt shared his personal experience with music therapy and hearing loss.
    • HLAA has a post on music and what those with hearing loss can learn from professional musicians
  • Representation:
    • Children’s books with character with hearing aids (a member mentioned reading such a book): This website lists many similar books.
    • Barbie Doll with hearing aids: Barbie and Ken
    • American Girl Doll with hearing loss was 2020 doll of the year Joss Kendrick (partnered with HLAA)
  • Technology Mentioned:
    • Spotify: Matt uses this music streaming service’s lyric feature to read lyrics while listening to music.
    • Zoom: The video conferencing platform has many captioning and translation features.
    • Otter.AI: The transcription app that Matt used to write a good chunk of his book (by talking into his phone and recording it in Otter).

• Additional Topics:

• • Matt mentioned that he enjoys reading historical fiction and read Erik Larson’s “The Devil in The White City.”

Next Book Club: JUNE 2025: Tuesday, JUNE 24, 5:00 pm Western/ 7:00 pm Central/ 8:00 pm Eastern Time. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women: A Novel”(fiction) by Lisa See, Now Welcoming Special Guest Author Lisa See! BARD: DB 115160 [ZOOM-Register Here] Zoom Meeting. Synopsis: About “a woman physician in 15th-century China. According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine…” Note: not about hearing loss or disability but does feature a minority group doing incredible things in the face of adversity. Published in 2024.