Podcast Summary: NPR’s Book of the Day
Episode: In his memoir, poet Raymond Antrobus writes of ‘deaf gain’ instead of hearing loss
Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Mary Louise Kelly (NPR)
Guest: Raymond Antrobus

Overview

This episode features an illuminating conversation between NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus about his new memoir, The Quiet: An Investigation of Missing Sound. The discussion delves into Antrobus’s personal journey as a deaf poet, his unique approach to language and sensory experience, the concept of “deaf gain,” and how deafness has shaped his art and perception of the world. Through stories, reflections, and a moving poetry reading, Antrobus challenges assumptions about deafness and explores themes of identity, belonging, and creative expression.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Growing Up Deaf: Discovery and Early Experiences

• Discovery of Deafness ([01:11]):
  As a child, Antrobus struggled to engage with the world, missing out on conversations and school instructions. His deafness was only recognized at age six, when he failed to hear a new telephone ringing — a moment that revealed his hearing difference to his family.
  • “Everyone assumed he had a cognitive disability. Until one day his mother bought a telephone, a loud phone. When it rang...everyone in his house seemed to notice but him. That is how Raymond Antrobus learned at 6 years old that he was deaf.” ([01:11], Mary Louise Kelly)
• Lack of Deaf Cultural References ([02:20]):
  He shares the sense of ‘in betweenness’—not fully part of the hearing world nor the deaf world, lacking community or cultural context until much later.
  • “As a kid, I didn’t have any map...There was no friends or family or network that had a kind of cultural idea of deafness.” ([02:20], Raymond Antrobus)

2. Finding Identity and Community

• Connection with London’s Creative Deaf Community ([02:20]):
  Antrobus only began to embrace his deaf identity after meeting deaf creatives—actors, poets, and performers—in London.
• Intersectionality: Race, Class, and Language ([03:08]–[03:56]):
  He discusses growing up mixed-race (Jamaican father, British mother), the complexities of identity, and learning British Sign Language at age 11, along with the difference between British and American sign languages.
  • “I learned to sign B at 11 years old.” ([02:55], Antrobus)
  • “British Sign Language is an indigenous language. It's more than 500 years old, which is as old as Shakespeare.” ([03:12], Antrobus)
  • The Jamaican cultural influence, particularly the playfulness and remixing in his father’s DJ practice, shaped Antrobus’s approach to language and performance.
    • “He would ask me to recite these poems...then he would record me trying to say these words. And then he would incorporate some of the poems and some of my attempt at speech into his DJ set.” ([03:56], Antrobus)

3. “Deaf Gain” vs. Hearing Loss

• Reframing the Narrative ([05:05]):
  Antrobus describes preferring the term “deaf gain” instead of “hearing loss,” highlighting the unique perceptual and creative advantages of being deaf.
  • “You flip it around and write about deaf gain, about living with the aid of deafness. Do you feel that?” ([05:31], Kelly)
  • “I do. I do...I think about this idea of having a natural deaf disposition...There are moments where [David Wright] kind of touches on this idea that he wouldn’t be a poet without his deafness.” ([05:31], Antrobus)
  • He references poets like David Wright and the notion of “the music of the eye,” reflecting deeply on deaf poetics.

4. Poetry as Expression & Advocacy

• Reading: “Dear Hearing World” ([06:38]–[07:20]):
  Antrobus reads two excerpts from his poem. The work articulates the distance and longing he sometimes feels, and the sense of finding community beyond conventional boundaries.
  • First lines:
    • “I have left Earth in search of sounder orbits, a solar system where the space between a star and a planet isn’t empty. I have left a white beard of noise in my place. And many of you won’t know the difference. We are indeed the same volume. All of us eventually fade.” ([06:46], Antrobus)
  • Last two lines:
    • “Deaf voices go missing like sound in space, and I have left Earth to find them.” ([07:09], Antrobus)
• On Anger and Advocacy ([07:20]–[09:03]):
  The poem’s sense of anger is rooted in Antrobus’s experiences revisiting his old deaf school, seeing reduced opportunities and resources for future generations.
  • “I went back to Blotch Nevilles, you know, about 14 years after leaving it, and I saw more struggle. I saw smaller classrooms...I wouldn’t have been deaf enough to get into that school...There’s more deaf schools being closed. There’s more deaf people being mainstreamed. And a lot of anger is sourced in that.” ([08:33], Antrobus)
  • Antrobus also reflects on the labor and vigilance required to navigate the hearing world, and the relief of being in deaf spaces where this “invisible labor” is understood.

Memorable Quotes

• On identity:
  “There are so many different factors...that go into developing an identity, race and class, even the way you sign.” ([02:34], Antrobus)
• On creative adaptability:
  “There was something particularly Jamaican about remixing or creating your own style, your own sound. That's kind of what Jamaica as a culture is very good at.” ([04:44], Antrobus)
• On deafness and poetry:
  “He wouldn’t be a poet without his deafness.” ([05:37], Antrobus, quoting David Wright)
• On searching for missing voices:
  “Deaf voices go missing like sound in space, and I have left Earth to find them.” ([07:09], Antrobus)
• On being understood:
  “Thank you for having me. This has been an honor to be heard.” ([09:11], Antrobus)

Important Timestamps

• 00:02: Introduction to the episode and its main topic (Andrew Limbong)
• 01:11: Antrobus’s childhood and discovery of deafness
• 02:20: Challenges of navigating identity as a deaf person
• 03:08: Learning British Sign Language and cultural differences in sign language
• 03:36: The influence of family and Jamaican culture
• 05:05: Choosing “deaf gain” over “hearing loss”
• 06:38: Reading and discussion of “Dear Hearing World”
• 07:20: Conversation on the emotional core of the poem and systemic challenges for deaf people
• 09:03: Closing thanks between Kelly and Antrobus

Tone and Style

The conversation is intimate, reflective, and deeply insightful. Antrobus speaks with warmth and candor, while Mary Louise Kelly’s questions invite nuanced reflections on identity, resilience, and the gifts of living “in between” worlds. The episode weaves personal narrative, cultural history, and poetry, revealing the richness and complexity of the deaf experience.

Listeners come away with a vivid sense of how Antrobus not only negotiates the boundaries between the hearing and deaf worlds but finds creative power, “deaf gain,” and belonging in that space. The episode stands as a powerful meditation on the value of different perspectives—and the voices we sometimes have to leave earth to find.