Le son empathique au cinéma: le paysage sonore sourd de Sound of Metal

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of "empathic sound" as a subcategory of point-of-audition sound, whereby diegetic sound is manipulated (ex. muffled, distorted, cut out entirely) to emulate a character's experience of hearing loss. It explores the didactic and "empathic" potential of this approach to sound design, read through the Deaf Crit framework of Deaf Gain. However, it also calls into question the audiocentric practice of recentring sound in narratives of deafness, through analysis of the 2019 film Sound of Metal. Show more