Man was born to function efficiently with all five senses but when he cannot hear, the story is different. Have you ever paused to wonder how the deaf and people who are hard of hearing find their way around in a world where most communication is by sound? Well the deaf live in a world of silence so many of them get lost, no matter how loud you call them. This is the reality of life for the hundreds of such people who travel daily around the country. But how do they cope? Kwaku Owusu Peprah has been finding out as he communicates through a sign language interpreter. “Many people don’t respect us. One time I went to buy an item to my home. I was going to Adiembra [a suburb of Takoradi in the Western Region]. I could not hear the shouts of my destination at the taxi rank and I was very frustrated,” a deaf woman told Owusu Peprah. This may have happened at a taxi rank but there are many tales of abuse, discrimination and prejudice against people with hearing impairment. In the bank, at the hospital, in the schools the abuses are enormous. On Hotline this Thursday, Joy FM airs the first of a two-part documentary dubbed The Sounds of Silence.