Dutch teenager Vera van Dijk was born with a severe hearing impairment that made it impossible to understand her mother’s voice or listen to pop music. But thanks to one savvy musician, the 19-year-old was recently able to experience her first live music concert, as reported by Alt Sounds.
The innovative concert was part of mobile company Vodafone’s “Firsts” series, which celebrates the many ways technology can help people enjoy new experiences. As part of the series, thousands of Vodafone voters selected popular progressive Netherlands musician Kyteman to compose music specifically tailored to Vera’s limited hearing range.
Though a special cochlear implant hearing aid she received two and half years ago allows Vera to hear a certain range of sounds, music remains difficult for her to enjoy. For Vera, the excitement of a live music concert always held an allure.
As she says in the heartwarming video, “At a concert, I want to experience a big family feeling. All these people coming together and listening to music together.”
To make that happen, Kyteman composed music tailored to Vera’s hearing strengths and weaknesses. Vera tested the music in studio to ensure that she could hear all the notes and instrumentals. Then, Kyteman performed the music with an 18-piece orchestra for a crowd of 400 people in Amsterdam this past August — including Vera.
Rock on.
