“Maybe it was because I could feel the rhythm more than hear it”: A choir participant on what made singing with hearing loss feel accessible and joyful
Barbara Lazar is an extrovert, a lover of music, an active volunteer in local and international initiatives, an editor and a former teacher. She has also struggled with hearing loss for the past seven years. During this time, Barbara has been a member of a choir for people with hearing loss led by SingWell partner Sina Fallah, the music director for the 50+ program at TMU’s Chang School of Continuing Education.
Barbara and Sina joined SingWell Research Theme Leader on Hearing Loss Dr. Benjamin Zendel for SingWell’s “Singing and Hearing Loss” Speaker Series session on March 25, 2025.
Here, we offer a transcription of Barbara’s words on how Sina’s choir offered a pathway for her to continue to experience the joy of singing with others while navigating some of the challenges posed by hearing loss.
This transcription has been edited slightly for length and clarity.
In a few weeks I will turn 72. For 65 years, I was very fortunate to hear perfectly well, and I am sort of embarrassed to admit that I took it for granted, because I don’t often take things for granted.
My father had hearing problems, and for many years we couldn’t speak over the phone. He lived out of town, so it was very lonely and isolating for him, as well as for me and my sisters. So when I found that I was hearing impaired, I was not looking forward to a repeat of those times. Fortunately, technology and medicine have improved substantially.
I am very musical. I grew up with ballet classes, folk dancing, teaching dance, performing in high school. I took instrumental music, played in the concert band. I sang in a choir, and as an adult I have sung with many amateur choirs, including Sina’s, and I’m grateful for all of that.
"All of us in the choir were dealing with our own and differing abilities, and somehow we managed just fine."
I first saw a notice for Sina’s choir on the Ryerson bulletin board when I was taking an evening course there, so I thought I’d check it out, and I’m absolutely delighted that I did. Being with others who understood each other was wonderful. We all got each other. Sina was creative, endlessly patient, supportive, and fun, and the participants reflected his attitudes.
One thing that I did to adapt to my hearing loss was to sit with my good ear to the other singers in my voice in the alto section. It was difficult for me to hear in stereo, but all of us in the choir were dealing with our own and differing abilities, and somehow we managed just fine.
"Maybe it was because I could feel the rhythm more than hear it."
One aspect that fascinated me was around one song with a rhythm I just couldn’t seem to get. I asked if I could stand behind the singers and Sina said yes, so I did. And I moved to the rhythm. It was complicated for me, but dancing seemed to make it okay. Maybe it was because I could feel the rhythm more than hear it. Maybe it’s because I dance easily. Whatever it was, the option to dance helped significantly for me. Nobody else wanted to do that –– they did what worked for them. And I did what worked for me. That’s how it worked. Whatever worked for you individually worked for the group. We just went along, and I have to say that this was the best choir ever for me.
This is the only choir that I have sung in since being hearing impaired, because I tried once, and I just thought, Oh, God, I’m going to throw off everybody else around me, because I can’t hear in stereo. I just didn’t think it was fair. So I don’t sing in other choirs. I may go listen, but I go knowing that I’m handicapped –– that’s how I see it –– knowing that I’m not going to hear the surround sound or the full sound. But I think that being in Sina’s choir was a bonus. It was relaxing, because there was no judgment on on the part of any of us in the choir. We just were who we were at that point.
"The social was a big element."
A side benefit of the choir is that it gave me “me time” on the subway. Down and back on the way to [TMU], I people watched, I daydreamed, and near the end of the course I used the time to write a song of tribute to the choir leaders, including Ella and Sina, and to the participants. We sang it at the final party. We had a blast doing it. We had become a very close-knit group. The social was a big element. We had a common starting off point coming into the choir, and we just expanded and grew from there.
Singing is just huge in so many ways. That’s that’s not very scientific, I know, but that’s what I can say. I am beyond grateful to Sina for the choir, for the whole SMART Lab experience. It opened up a side of me that I didn’t know needed opening. When Sina asked [me to speak today], well, you can tell: Ask me to jump, and I’ll say How high?
For more on how group singing can support people with hearing loss, check out: