Ringing, humming, silence : point of audition representations of deafness, tinnitus and sonic technology

A young girl moves through an abandoned grocery store. As the camera cuts closer, drawing attention to her cochlear implant, the quiet sounds of the store drop away. The audio-viewer is wrapped in her deaf perspective, and the shades of silence of her cochlear implant. Occurring early in John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (2018), this sequence embodies the vital role of sound and technology in cinematic representations of deafness. The sonic equivalent of the point of view shot, point of audition (POA) sound is frequently used in cinematic representations of deafness and tinnitus. Using the frame of point of audition sound, this thesis brings together the disciplines of sound, disability, technology and Deaf studies to interrogate the role of auditory perspectives in cinematic representations of deafness and tinnitus. It examines the use of point of audition sound in A Quiet Place, and Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver (2017). Through point of audition sound, both films blur the boundaries between the audience, the characters, and sound technology (the iPod, cochlear implant and Dolby Atmos). Point of audition in these films brings together representation and the tools of representation, providing a platform to consider the ways in which sound technology and sonic experiences are portrayed through sound. This thesis argues that point of audition, along with adding a significant dimension to representations of deafness and tinnitus, provides a sounding space in which to confront the cultural beliefs, myths and ideologies bound up in sound technology. In the process, it demonstrates the constructive critical possibilities of bringing Deaf, disability and sound studies into conversation with each other. Together they provide a formidable framework for critically engaging with the complications and possibilities of acoustically representing deafness or tinnitus for hearing audiences.Arts, Faculty ofTheatre and Film, Department ofGraduat