This past Friday (10/18/2026), I went to an interesting event aimed at including deaf and hard-of-hearing people in experiencing music, and I wanted to write about my time there and my thoughts about the whole thing.
The event was called 聲音藏在 or Hidden Sound, and it is largely the passion project of 廖曉彤 Eunice Liao, a CODA actor and singer. This show was performed last year in Taipei, and this year they were able to bring the show to Kaohsiung. The aim of the show is to provide a way for deaf/hard-of-hearing individuals to experience and enjoy music, and the performers accomplish this in a few different ways. In addition to having a screen behind the performers that shows visuals meant to evoke the vibes of the music, the lyrics appear on screen and similarly are designed in such a way to convey the rhythm and emotion of the song. For each song, one person on stage performs the song in TSL, translating the meaning of the song into TSL rather than literally using Signed Chinese (which is the way that most 手語歌 “sign language songs” are performed in Taiwan). The performer also brings their acting and dancing skills to the performance as well, so that it isn’t just a translation of the song, but a full-on performance in TSL. For the latter two sections of songs, the original writers/musicians of the songs are also on stage to perform the song at the same time. For the second set of songs, this was 郭耀仁 Kuo Yao-Jen, and for the third set, this was Tizzy Bac.
Between the sets, some of the performers would come onto the stage to talk about the songs there were performing, and the language used depended on the performer: the hearing performers used Mandarin, and the Deaf performers used TSL. Throughout these moments, TSL-Mandarin interpreters provided access in the language not used by the on-stage performers, and there was also live captioning of the spoken Mandarin as well. They also had a few short movies that played between sets which gave more context for the show and the Deaf performers, especially how they prepared for the concert. These short movies had captioning in Mandarin, and some segments were in TSL. So all in all, a very accessible concert for the deaf/hard-of-hearing (and hearing) folks in the audience.
And while I really enjoyed the whole experience, I do want to spend some time on the parts of the event that I feel could be improved. The main issue I had with the organization of the event was that it didn’t seem to put TSL as the main priority in deciding how to organize the event. I’ll give three examples of how it seemed to me that TSL was not prioritized as the main mode of communicating for the event:
- While in line to get our tickets validated, two of the Deaf people in our party had already turned away to go inside when one of the other people checking tickets asked rather loudly in Mandarin if we had already showed our tickets. Because the staff member did not provide a visual cue that a question was being asked (such as by making eye contact or even waving), the two Deaf people in our party had no way of knowing someone was trying to talk to them. And while there was someone next to the ticket checker who had a sticker saying they were a 手語志工 sign language volunteer, this individual didn’t seem to make any effort to convey what the ticket checker was saying.
- Later on, after we had gotten to our seats, one of the organizers came to me to ask if I would be willing to be interviewed after the show.1 They brought one of the interpreters, who I believe recognized me and so starting speaking to me in Mandarin. However, the interpreter still still checked if I was hearing and asked if I’d need interpreting. I told them that I am hearing, but that there should still be interpreting for the Deaf folks around me, and to my eyes, the interpreter seemed to be somewhat surprised by this, but still provided interpretation of course.
- Between the second and third set, the crew had to set up for the band that was coming on to perform next, and during that time one of the Deaf performers came onto the stage to talk about his experience in being asked to perform in the show, how he prepared for it, etc. But to be honest, I had a rather hard time focusing on what he was saying because throughout the monologue, the crew was busy behind him moving the instruments onto the stage, checking that the tech was all good, conferring with the band, etc. In other words, for the members of the audience that were trying to focus on what the performer was saying in TSL, they had to filter out the visual noise of all the activity behind the performer. And while I can understand that they probably had to prepare for the next set in this way to get everything ready in the limited time they had, I think that if TSL had been prioritized as the main way that information is conveyed, they would have found another way to manage the change between sets.
All that being said, there were a lot of great things about the show that I quite enjoyed. For one, in addition to the show being designed to be accessible to a deaf/hard-of-hearing audience, it was also very accessible on a budget, being that the show was free (but getting a ticket seemed to be determined by lottery after registering). And despite the event organizers not making any money on ticket sales, it was obvious that the crew and the performers put a lot of heart and soul into the production, each of the performers having spent a great deal of time preparing for each number and people most of the crew having shown clear effort to learn how to interact with and prepare a show for a deaf/hard-of-hearing audience.
Not only that, the numbers themselves were quite spectacular in a lot of ways. The visuals that they made for each number were very effective at conveying the emotions of the lyrics and the vibes of the music, while also of course allowing the audience to see the words. And I found many of the performances to be quite moving as well. One in particular sticks out to me: 郭耀仁 Kuo Yao-Jen and 蕭匡宇 Hsiao Kuang-Yu performing 「我的阿媽」 My Grandmother touched me in a way that wasn’t quite ready for. After explaining the origin of the song was a kind of love letter to the grandmother that raised him, while 郭耀仁 Kuo Yao-Jen was singing, the interpreter performed not as the singer as is now, but as he was as a child. And at the end of the song, the singer approached the TSL performer playing his younger self and put his arm on his shoulder,2 as if to tell his younger self that he was loved, and also to be kinder to himself as the kid just trying to understand why his family was the way that it was. And that feeling of trying to be kinder to one’s younger self really resonated with me in a way that I wasn’t expecting, and I found myself thinking about my own journey to be more loving to the kid that I was and the adult that kid helped me become. And so I did shed a tear at that moment, and I appreciated the performers sharing that part of their story and experiences.
As mentioned above, I was asked to stay after the show for an impromptu interview, and I was able to share a bit about what I enjoyed about the show. And before that (since there was kind of a long wait to actually get interviewed), I was chatting with some of the folks who had come to the show, including the classmate that had invited me. And from what I could tell, the Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the audience really seemed to enjoy the show, getting a rather unique experience and getting to feel the music through the vibrations and the visuals. Also, some of the audience members got to wear vests designed to transmit vibrations based on the music to their backs, giving an additional kinesthetic dimension to the experience. Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to anyone who had gotten to use one of these, but I’m sure it was interesting and novel if nothing else.
So that’s my thoughts on the show, and if you have the chance to see this kind of show at some point in the future (if they are able to put this show on again somewhere else, and I hope they do!), I’d highly recommend checking it out! For more info about the show, you can also check out this video they put out after the Taipei performance.
