To cite this article: King, G. (2026). ‘Empathic Sound in Film: The Deaf Soundscape of Sound of Metal‘, Senses of Cinema, issue 117, https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2026/feature-articles/empathic-sound-in-film-the-deaf-soundscape-of-sound-of-metal/.
An expanded version of this article was originally published in French in the peer-reviewed journal Images Secondes.
Film can control not only what we hear, but how we hear it. Through a sound design that uses muffling, distortion, oscillations in volume, tinnitus-like overlays and abrupt cuts to silence, countless films and series attempt to convey an experience of deafness, for the benefit of a presumed hearing audience. This article proposes the term “empathic sound” to describe this immersive and audiocentric representation of hearing loss, focusing on the 2019 film Sound of Metal.
