I loved this book. Beautifully written story intertwining the author's own experience with deafness, the experiences of others, and the science behind it. I both learned a lot as well as gained a lot of empathy for the deaf community. In the weeks after reading this book, I found myself paying closer attention to the sounds around me - I would recommend this book to anyone. ( )

This was such an interesting book. I don't read too many memoirs, but I am glad I read this one. I do not personally know anyone who is deaf, so it was interesting to read this book. I actually took American Sign Language in college and I have to say, it was much more complicated than I expected it to be. The author's approach to writing this book was an interesting one and I enjoyed her writing. ( )

I really enjoyed this read. Not only the first hand experience of hearing loss, but the educational aspect. I feel like I have more knowledge know and I was still able to get the sense of one person's experience through their hearing loss journey.

Super interesting read, I really liked the random tidbits of hearing loss plans how it impacted people in history. I also loved how the author discussed her restored hearing and how uncomfortably intense it was initially. ( )

Sound begins with Bathurst dealing with her hearing loss in a not very healthy way. Her friend Eric has invited her to go sailing with him, his son Luke, and another friend Tom. She has only 30% hearing, is not an experienced sailor, but wants to face her fears. The weather turns bad, the engine fails, and a wave crashes over the boat causing her right hearing aid to malfunction. She brought one spare but it’s useless because it’s for her left ear. She can’t hear her friends’ shouted instructions and due to nearsightedness and the bad weather can’t see their frantic gestures either. Her way of dealing with all this is to shut down and sulk. The next day her friend gives her a chance to redeem herself but while steering the boat through a narrow channel she can’t remember the meaning of the black and red markers. She spots a white marker under a rhododendron bush (what’s it doing in the water?) and steers toward it. She won’t let the nine year old take over because she’s the adult after all. The boy later explains to his furious father that “She didn’t know what a road sign was.” Was she trying to get them all killed?

Bathurst’s first begins to notice her hearing loss after a skiing accident. As her hearing diminishes her reaction always veers to denial which creates difficulty communicating with friends and coworkers as well as potential dangers such as encountered during her sailing fiasco. She insists nothing is wrong with her, has suicidal thoughts, tries to get admitted to a mental health facility and rejects her friends. One friend even described her during this time as scary and hostile. She visits various hearing specialists and gets hearing aids which she resists wearing. (American readers might be surprised to learn that the NHS supplied them at no cost to Bathurst.) Her discussion of hearing loss in the music world goes from Beethoven to modern rock musicians, many of whom have a degree of deafness. She investigates the occupational hazards to hearing at shipyards and in the military. She learns a little sign language and interacts with members of the deaf community but seems standoffish. Then her audiologist informs her that a surgeon in France can probably help her. The surgery isn’t immediately successful but her hearing does improve over the course of months. In the last few pages Bathurst states how happy she is to have recovered her hearing but quickly diverts to talking about Tony Parker and his oral histories of ordinary people rather than sharing personal feelings.

Sound is a short, quick read. The title of each chapter is a single staccato word and the writing is very casual, occasionally rambling, rather than technical. While I wanted to feel sympathy for Bathurst, I found it difficult to do so; she often seems to be holding the reader at arm’s length and she sometimes comes across as a bit prickly. ( )