GROWING UP HOW WITH A HELPS MY DEAF SISTER VOICE ACTING

By Kristin Aikin Salada

Actor

Idistinctly remember one of my first VO classes in San Francisco, CA encouraging me to use my hands to support my message when talking into the mic. We don’t normally think about our hands when we are having an everyday conversation. Yet, we gesture with our hands all the time when we converse, even over the telephone. And those hand movements affect our word emphasis and inflection and help convey our emotions.

When my voice-over instructor said, “Voice actors do a form of Sign Language acting” I felt an immediate connection. My older sister was born deaf as a result of the German Measles (or Rubella) that my mom contracted while pregnant. My parents were advised to get my sister hearing aids, years of speech therapy, and have her learn to read lips to survive in the “hearing world.” She didn’t learn sign language until she went to a deaf and blind school in high school. At that point, I learned some sign language too (only as much as she would tolerate her nosey little sister learning!) She would shush my singing all the time as it sounded like an annoying whistle to her, but when we were told to be quiet, she seemed to appreciate that I’d gotten pretty good at reading lips too.

While journeying into the world of sign language, not only did I become more comfortable using my hands to indicate what I was trying to say, but I also became aware of the huge importance of facial expressions in conveying meaning. If you’ve watched deaf people sign, you know what I mean. They’re incredibly expressive with their face and body movements. (Check out videos of the USA Superbowl anthem signer – she was amazing!)

As voice actors, we have the resources of BOTH hand gestures and facial expressions to convey our emotions and influence how we sound. And, as hearing people, we have the gift of the ability to hear minute variations in tone, inflection, pitch, emphasis, and accompanying vocal sounds. I love voice acting and the irony isn’t lost on me that I’ve chosen a profession that my sister can’t truly experience.

We hearing people often take for granted how much we learn, feel, and experience passively… we can do other things while listening to the radio, TV, live announcers, audiobooks, tours, etc. Deaf people must actively seek out information – they don’t “overhear” content at home, at work, in public settings. My sister and her husband LOVE action movies (watched at home with closed captioning) and highly visual forms of entertainment where they can pick up on so much without needing to listen.

We are blessed to be able to share our artistry through the medium of sound. And, yet there is so much more than pure sound that we convey. So, on those hard days when you’re tired and feeling a lack of creativity, I encourage you to try pretending that a deaf person is watching you record your script. How much more can you feel and convey with your hands, face, and body?

Kristin Aikin Salada lives and records in Denver, Colorado. If you visit www. KristinVoiceOvers.com you’ll see that many of her videos are captioned so that her deaf sister and brother-inlaw can experience them as well.

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