Sweet Nothing in My Ear

Dan and Laura are an attractive young couple happily married for nine years. He is hearing; she is deaf. Dan speaks and uses sign language to communicate with Laura and their 6-year-old deaf son, Adam. His family's deafness has never been an issue for Dan—until a doctor says that Adam should have a cochlear implant—a tiny computer device that would be surgically inserted into his skull to enable the child to hear. A technological miracle? Not to Laura, who sees the device as a threat to deaf culture. In her eyes, the most "natural" thing for Adam is for her boy to remain deaf. To her, deafness is an honor, not a handicap—like being "a flower of a different color." But Dan becomes convinced that it's in Adam's "best interest" to become a "normal" child. The battle to help his deaf son become a hearing boy launches Dan on an emotional journey of self-discovery that exposes hidden prejudices and threatens to shatter his family. "Sweet Nothing in My Ear" was a finalst for the 1998 PEN West Literary Award for Drama.