Detroit Musician Creates Music Videos for the Hearing Impaired

Sean Forbes was born into a family of musicians. According to Detroit Make it Here, a Web site powered by Crain’s Detroit Business and Detroit Renaissance, Sean’s stepmother is a pianist, his brothers play saxophone and bass and his father and uncle lead the Detroit country rock band The Forbes Brothers. Therefore, the odds were good that Sean would also have some musical genes. He does.

The 27-year-old Farmington Hills resident plays drums and bass. But one thing differentiates him from the rest of his family. He’s been deaf since he was a baby.

Being deaf since he was young and having an interest in music put Sean into a unique position. He understood that others like him probably appreciated music as well. Maybe he couldn’t hear the music, but he could feel the music of instruments vibrating. He wanted to try to translate the power of lyrics in a way that deaf people could understand.

Sean posted his videos on YouTube, where they immediately became popular. Joel Martin, a music publisher in Ferndale, eventually signed on to help Sean start his own music video company, D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network).

Here a news clip from a Detroit television station which introduces Sean, followed by a video based upon a song by John Mayer entitled Waiting For the World to Change.

The people signing in this video are hearing impaired performers from around the country who are signed by Sean’s company to star in the videos. These videos are compiled into DVD volumes and sold in stores and online.