Deaf people to experience music through festival using technology

Good Vibrations Music& Arts Festival to be held May 20

SAN ANTONIO – For the first time, a large community of deaf people will get the chance to attend a music festival in San Antonio for the world debut of Good Vibrations Music & Arts Festival, the brainchild of Miss San Antonio, who is deaf herself.

If you’re wondering how the marriage of music can work with those who can’t here, you need only turn to modern technology.

Jennifer Shearrer’s first full encounter with music was made possible through technology. Vibrations pulsed through a specially made vest produced by a company called Subpac, which takes music and enhances it so that those who can’t hear the full spectrum of sound are able to.

“You hear everything. What you can’t hear you can get confirmed with the vibration. That’s really neat,” Shearrer said.

Combined with a Cochlear implant, hundreds of deaf people will be able to experience what Shearrer experienced at the Good Vibrations Music Festival.

The festival is the first of its kind and will have concerts and activities that bring the full outdoor sound experience to many for the first time.

“This event is so that they can experience the music throughout the backpacks and captioning and interpreting and the light shows. It encompasses the whole of the body, not just the ears,” said Emma Faye Rudkin, Miss San Antonio.

Rudkin said the festival is something that is long overdue and the list of technology that will be utilized is impressive, as is the headliner, Ben Rector. She said there is also the added benefit that thousands of Rector’s fans with normal hearing will be able to enjoy the festival on May 20.


About the Author:

Ursula Pari has been a staple of television news in Texas at KSAT 12 News since 1996 and a veteran of broadcast journalism for more than 30 years.