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Hearing Happiness

Deafness Cures in History
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( 100 ratings, 27 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Hearing Happiness weaves together lyrical history and personal memoir to explore society's and Jaipreet Virdi's own perceptions of life as a deaf person in America. Deafened by meningitis at four, Virdi's experience fluctuates between hearing and Deaf communities, struggling with numerous failed cures and technologies. Drawing on archival research from the 1860s onward, she traces the long and often harmful history of deafness remedies—from ear trumpets to electrotherapy—while reasserting her identity and challenging prevailing notions of disability and remediation.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in disability studies, medical history, cultural identity, and memoir, as well as those seeking an insightful perspective on deafness and societal expectations.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Weaving together lyrical history and personal memoir, Virdi powerfully examines society’s—and her own—perception of life as a deaf person in America.

At the age of four, Jaipreet Virdi’s world went silent. A severe case of meningitis left her alive but deaf, suddenly treated differently by everyone. Her deafness, downplayed by society and doctors, led her to struggle to “pass” as hearing for most of her life. Countless cures, treatments, and technologies led to dead ends. Never quite deaf enough for the Deaf community or quite hearing enough for the “normal” majority, Virdi was stuck in aural limbo for years. It wasn’t until her thirties, exasperated by problems with new digital hearing aids, that she began to actively assert her deafness and re-examine society’s—and her own—perception of life as a deaf person in America.

Through lyrical history and personal memoir, Hearing Happiness raises pivotal questions about deafness in American society and the endless quest for a cure. Taking us from the 1860s up to the present, Virdi combs archives and museums to understand the long history of curious cures: ear trumpets, violet ray apparatuses, vibrating massagers, electrotherapy machines, airplane diving, bloodletting, skull hammering, and many more. Hundreds of procedures and products have promised grand miracles but always failed to deliver a universal cure—a harmful legacy that is still present in contemporary biomedicine.

Weaving Virdi’s own experiences together with her exploration into the fascinating history of deafness cures, Hearing Happiness is a powerful story that America needs to hear.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as an "archival tour de force" by Public Books, this work combines critical memoir with historical investigation to illuminate the politics of deafness cures. Kirkus Reviews calls it an "engaging sweeping chronology" fortified by personal insight, while Publishers Weekly highlights how it breaks academic publication molds. The Washington Post commends Virdi for challenging disability stereotypes and revealing the pressures behind attempts to "fix" deafness through history.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226824062

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 November 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Illustration: 40 halftones

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 481g

Pages: 328

About the Author

Jaipreet Virdi is assistant professor of history at the University of Delaware. This is her first book. Find her on Twitter at @jaivirdi or visit her website www.jaivirdi.com.

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