Sometimes in this life, a number of things come together to create something new and dynamic. This is what happened with the music project by Pete Waller, known as DeafboyOne, which is a fusion of songwriting, Deaf Culture and performance.
Losing his hearing in a “freak accident”
Singer/Songwriter Pete Waller, aka DeafboyOne, has an unusual story in that the catalyst which brought the first real and lasting change into his life came about as the result of a freak accident at the age of 14.
“I was deafened when my eardrums were perforated in an accident in the school playground,”
Thinking it would be funny, a boy clapped both his hands hard over Waller’s ears, causing both eardrums to be perforated at once. Waller hadn’t had perfect hearing before this, but it had also never been an issue, he says. Growing up the son of a Deaf father, he was aware of deafness and its challenges but didn’t have to deal with hearing loss himself until after that fateful day.
“My father, Ken Waller, went to Oldham Deaf School in the North of England back in the 1940s,” Waller recalls. “I remember him teaching me fingerspelling, but as he used hearing aids (the big chunky ones on the chest), he never embraced sign language. I think [that was] partly because the authorities frowned upon its use at that time.”
A new way of experiencing music
Until the playground incident, Waller was learning to play guitar. After the incident, because of his serious hearing issues, he discovered a new way of experiencing music, he says.
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