Sounds of Madrid

There are days where my unilateral hearing can make me feel so vulnerable. Going outside can be such a challenge and one that I have to mentally prepare myself for every day. I live in a city, and as soon as I open the apartment block door, I walk out into a mess of noise. Loud deep roars of traffic and the chatter of people force me into a bubble of isolation. When I am surrounded by sound, I cannot sense when there is something approaching my deaf side. I do not realize when someone is walking next to me, or if a bike or car is about to pass me by. When there are background noises, it is difficult for me to focus on conversation; I can’t hear individual sounds clearly, and my ear and head fill with pressure from the sounds, which also adds to the difficulty in understanding speech. If I am outside by myself, I try to keep my deaf ear to the wall, or next to the traffic, so that my good ear has a better chance of hearing noises of significance. When I’m outside with my boyfriend or friends, I have to keep them on my hearing side and find myself constantly looking at them, to check if they have said something to me.

Travelling on the metro is uncomfortable. The loudness of the train approaching and the screech as it nears the platform can be almost unbearable. Once on the train, there is a bell sound and an announcement of each stop. This bell can be piercingly loud. Before arriving to a station, a recorded announcement says: “Próxima estación [name], correspondencia con línea [number]”: “Next station [name], transfer with line [number]”. Some metro lines have announcements to mind the gap between the train and the platform. Some trains have a whistling sound when the doors close. The metro is a challenging bombardment of sounds. I worry when I’m travelling alone that people might talk to me, and I won’t be able to hear them, or even worse, not even realize they are speaking to me, if they are on my deaf side. They don’t know I can’t hear them. I always worry about seeming rude if I don’t respond to people.

Madrid is a city that is bursting with the music of performers and entertainers. Every part of the city has its own soundtrack. People hop on and off of metro trains; wheeling their portable amplifiers, and various instruments: panpipes, guitars, violins, even miniature pianos. In metro stations, and in fact, anywhere in the city, you might encounter a man playing his violin to the soundtrack of Titanic. You might encounter someone playing the drums, made of pots and pans or other recycled materials, to a fast backing track beat. You might encounter another violinist, this time without a backing track, and passionately playing a well-known piece of classical music. You might encounter guitarists strumming guitars wildly and singing with raw passion. When walking into town, you can hear a Spanish guy sitting on the side of the street playing his guitar, singing Bob Marley songs in his own unique style; short high-pitched staccato sounds.

This intrinsic creativity, that is present in every part of Madrid, is enchanting. But it is also something that now presents me with a challenge. Now I am trying to enjoy the sounds of Madrid again. Now I am trying not to focus on the tinnitus that the loud sounds of music can bring, and not focus on the perpetual worry of missing a stranger’s words. Instead, I want to focus on learning to enjoy this wonderfully noisy city that I live, and that I am trying to love again.