Musical boon for hard of hearing

September was national deaf awareness month in South Africa.

About 4 million South Africans have hearing difficulties, with an estimated 500 000 to 600 000 using South African sign language, so it has become important to acknowledge people living with hearing challenges and disabilities.

Last month, MTN SA partnered with up-andcoming rapper Lazarusman and St Vincent’s School for the Deaf to create a bespoke track, using sign language. Lazarusman learnt sign language for the track, entitled DefBars.

The lyrics can only be understood if you know or are prepared to learn the basics of sign language.

MTN SA executive: corporate affairs Jacqui O’Sullivan said: “Connecting people and enabling them to communicate, is at the heart of our business.

“Hard of hearing and deaf South Africans do not have the same access to most services that able-hearing South Africans do, and for this reason we wanted to package unconventional, although uniquely South African content, specifically for the deaf community.”

The track was mastered by Hey Papa Legend to ensure the vibration within it can be “heard” by the deaf and St Vincent’s supervised the filming of the music video to ensure all the signs are visible and understood.

Says O’Sullivan: “It is not the only initiative that supports this cause.

“MTN has created a USSD [unstructured supplementary service data] version of their emergency services line, which allows hard of hearing and deaf South Africans, or those who cannot speak over the phone for any reason, to still have access to ... [services like] the South African Police Service and emergency medical and fire services. – Citizen reporter