Before starting to tell my story, I would like to thank Soshified for the opportunity to share this story and show how important the members of Girls’ Generation are to me. Since I’m not a Soshified writer I’ll introduce myself: I’m Diéfani Favareto Piovezan, I’m 22 years old, and I’m currently living in Brazil with my father and our family.

I’ve lived in a world of silence for seven years. When I was fourteen a neurological condition took my hearing away from me. Back then I was a very active teenager, and I used to go out every weekend to dance, watch movies, and party. But above all other things, I was in love with music. I used to listen to everything from Mozart to Cradle of Filth. My computer would be playing music all day long. Although I didn’t have the gifted talent to play instruments or sing well, listening was enough to fill my soul with joy.
When I lost my hearing, I tried to “listen” to music, but the only way to do so was to actually feel the music. I used to leave my stereo playing very loud so I could feel the sound vibration in order to enjoy it just a little bit, but it wasn’t enough. Hearing aids never worked, since the problem was in my auditory nerve. Either I would have to live forever in a world of silence or get some kind of special hearing implant.
I was afraid of getting an implant, so I chose to live in the silence. When I was 17, I kind of gave up on music. Since I couldn’t listen to the music, I felt like there was no sense in just feeling it, because it didn’t make me happy the way it used to. Although I would keep CDs in my car, I would only put one in when someone was in the car with me.
I was in college when I met a group of deaf people who have cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a device full of electrodes that is implanted in the cochlea through a 5-hour long surgery. It serves as a substitute for the sensory hair cells within the ear, and has an external piece that works as a speech processor. The sound comes through a device that looks similar to a common hearing aid, passes through an antenna that has a magnet in it, and finally goes straight to the brain. The people I met who had cochlear implants could hear well, and I felt motivated to get one as well.
I went to a doctor and he told me that since I had both American and Brazilian citizenship, I should go to Brazil to get the surgery done for free. I came to Brazil in January of 2010, and I waited nine months to get the surgery done before the cochlear implant was activated on November of 2010. A new world opened up, and I started to really hear and understand both speech and sound by May of 2011. I slowly started to listen to music again, but only the old songs that I listened to when I was 14.

A friend of mine introduced me to K-Pop and she showed me some videos. I liked the blast of colors, but I was still adjusting to the implant and couldn’t really hear their voices over the background music. But I kept listening. In August a big change occurred and I was able to listen to a lot of things. I even started talking on the phone with some relatives. I felt excited to learn more about K-pop, but I didn’t find any groups that I really liked. I heard songs by Brown Eyed Girls, Jewelry, Super Junior, 2NE1, f(x), 2PM, and many more, but nothing excited me. I felt as if it just sounded like “common” music. They were good, but they didn’t really touch me.
It was October 18th, 2011 when S.M. Entertainment uploaded a new video called “Girls’ Generation: The Boys” onto their YouTube channel. A friend of mine who loves K-pop saw it and sent me the link to the video on YouTube. I waited for it to load so I could see it. When the song started, I thought, “Pretty girls”, but then suddenly I heard the song starting and something inside me was screaming, “THIS IS JUST WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!” It was love at first sight and first hearing. I could hear how each of them had powerful voices. Although I don’t understand any Korean, I could clearly understand the words they were singing. That was the day when Girls’ Generation came into my life.

After I heard “The Boys”, I was insanely looking for videos on YouTube and information on Google. My friend and I spent 48 hours awake in order to learn how to recognize each member. In the end, we were the ones answering the “who is who” questions on the YouTube comments. Every single day I would wake up and go straight to the computer to do my college work and listen to Girls’ Generation’s songs. I’ve bought a lot of their songs on iTunes. I’ve made Tiffany my desktop and iPhone background. Their songs are my ringtones. I stay up nights watching them.
They touched me deeply because many pop stars act like they are at the top of the world, but not Girls’ Generation. They act like human beings, like nine girls in their twenties. They are loud and playful, they say things from the heart, and they are so grateful to their fans that it makes us feel like we are the ones who are working hard for them.
The members of Girls’ Generation didn’t just touch my heart and soul, but they helped me a lot to improve my hearing more and more. When you are not able to hear for many years, your brain forgets how to hear, and you have to learn how to hear all over again when you get a cochlear implant. It takes many years to be able to do many of the things that I used to do.
I usually select the songs I like the most and leave them playing all day long. They are like my hearing therapists. I listen to them and I try to recognize their voices, and by the voice tone I know who is singing. I also use their songs to identify strong phonetic sounds that can be clearly heard in the Korean language. Of course I get it wrong a lot of times, but I also get it right a lot of times. Their videos work the same way: I let the whole video play, and without looking at it I write down on a piece of paper who is talking and strong phonetic sounds that I hear. When the video finishes, I actually watch it to see what I heard right.
It seems like a stupid thing, right? Well, to my surprise, it actually improved my hearing. On November 11th, 2011 I went to the hospital to adjust the implant’s volume and hearing speed. They conducted the audiogram and all the hearing tests that they always do, and the audiologist said, “Well, I don’t know what you’ve being doing, or what happened, but your improvement now is at 93%. When you last came in August it was 58% and now it’s 93%. It’s insane and amazing. Whatever you’re dong, it’s working, and it’s helping a lot.”

From that day on, I never stopped watching Girls’ Generation’s videos or listening to their songs. I do watch other videos and listen to other songs, but only Girls’ Generation can truly help me with my needs. My friends are starting to love them because of me, but for me they have a much bigger importance in my life. I expect to be hearing even better in a year or two, and I intend to go to a Girls’ Generation concert. Whether they’ll be in New York City, Brazil (maybe, since they are getting a lot of fans here), or in Asia, I’ll try to save some money to see them sing and dance live, and I will enjoy every single part of it.
Thank you, Girls’ Generation. I’m grateful that you have all worked so hard and never given up. Thank you for being such great singers, and for that reason, thank you for helping me to hear better every day. I expect you’ll work for many years more, so I’ll be able to attend a lot of concerts. Your work has set my soul truly free. It makes my soul full of joy, but above of all, it brings a lot of sounds and music to my soul.
Some people might see this story as stupid or childish, but only a person who has lost the ability to hear and then is able to hear again can understand how it feels and the joy I feel inside me. My soul was shut away from the world and sad because my soul is the one of a person who can hear and listen to music, and Girls’ Generation brought my happiness back. Thank you Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. I’ll keep working very hard to hear more and more each day just like you keep working hard to bring smiles to our faces. Hwaiting!!!!
Written by: Diéfani Favareto Piovezan
Edited by: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
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Now, let’s enjoy
SNSD songs . Ok!
Someone should really translate this story and share with the girls. Sooooo touched!
idk what to say.. but i’m so touched and happy for you :’) all the best and get well real soon so you can totally enjoy their music ^^ hwaiting ! ♥
Wow, it’s stories like this that keep me attracted to this fandom and to the girls. Sometimes we need reminders like this about the power of music and the amazing abilities that is has to change lives and also to bring a fresh perspective into our lives as Sones and fans and lovers of SNSD/Girls’ Generation.
Thank you, Diéfani, for sharing your story with us. It’s not childish at all! It’s very moving and touching and for lack of better words, amazing. I know what you mean when you say that music fills your soul with joy. Even though I have close to zero musical abilities, I love all types of music and it’s very soothing and brings joy to me, especially during the darkest moments of my life. But until now, I never thought of music from the perspective of someone who cannot hear well. I guess I took being able to hear music and all other sounds for granted.
Anyways, I’m glad that your hearing has improved a lot since the cochlear implant and it’s amazing how Girls’ Generation played a huge role in your improvement even if it was indirectly through watching and listening to the videos. I think another huge role in your improvement was also your initiative and motivation to do whatever it takes to get your hearing and processing abilities back, so I commend you for taking the initiative to use the Girls’ Generation videos and music as a therapy tool.
I hope you’ll recover your hearing abilities fully soon (I’m sure you will very soon because you’re almost there!), and as a fellow Sone/fan, I’ll certainly be praying for a speedy and complete recovery. And I also hope that you’ll be able to meet the girls in person, whether it’s through a concert, fanmeeting, or personal meeting, and thank them for helping to recover your hearing. I’m sure that once they find out, they’ll be really touched by your story!
Just a suggestion but whatever and whenever the next Soshified gift project for the girls might be, perhaps a great idea would be the inclusion of this story or a letter from Diéfani to the girls? Her story is too amazing and touching for the girls to not know :) As amazing as all the Soshified gifts have been thus far, I don’t think there’s a better gift than having the girls know the impact that their music and hard work has all over the world.
I believe in Girls’ Generation. This is the greatest which Girls’ Generation has given to the world, especially for their fans.Your story is so great too. ^^ Girls’ Generation and Sones Hwaiting !!!
I LOVE GIRLS’ GENERATION SO MUCH, never change my mine.
I’m astonished up to the point where I’m speechless. Definitely touched my heart. (‘:
It’s really great just to hear others are getting the will to do things because of our girls. I’m one of them. It might be little things, but they mean something to me.
I’m glad your hearing became much better, glad you’re part of SONE community now, and glad SNSD helped you through your tough times. :D
her story was so amazing…Im happy for her fast recovery.
fans like us are lucky to have snsd on our lives,we may not see them in person,but the hapiness they give us an enough reason to love them more…
it was cool that they can help soshi’s indirectly as if they have super power^^kekeke
maybe this is the best story i ever heard about our GG…really, i never imagine our girls can help someone to gain more strength just by listening or watching their music :)
if i may ask, please translate this story to korean language and send it to our girls…let them know that they have been (indirectly) doing something great :)
thanks for sharing such a touching story…
hope uu r doing fine now .. hearing not only soshi’s beautiful voices~
but oso the beautiful voices & sounds out there in the world!
take care & let’s continue supporting soshi! ^^
stay strong! ^^
Awww … such a touching story, you also serve as an inspiration to fellow SONE ^_^
Diefani & SNSD fighting!!!
nice story diefani, even though I never feel what you feel but I know how you feel.. I hope you are getting better each day and I believe you will.. hehe.. also, if the girls know abt this, they are happy to know it.. hoho..
I agree with your opinion abt the girls that they are different from other famous ppl, because our girls stay humble and I hope they are always humble.. hoho..
once again.. Gbu diefani.. get well soon..
Another story added into the wonders of being a SONE. Diefani I’m so glad you decide to share this story, and don’t think for a second that this is seen stupid and childish, for only the stupid and childish will think the simple things in life should be unappreciated. I can relate in a way because I love music too, music is magical, connecting and my escape from (the horrors of) life into something new and different. I don’t know where will I be without it so I can’t imagine how it must be to live seven let alone a year (or months, days!) without music. But it’s these things that make us appreciate the world a little more right? Even though the gloom was hard and long, I’m glad things are starting to get better, and you’ve even exceeded the doctor’s prediction (we all love to be in your face to doctors right?).
As for Soshi, I can’t agree more, you are so new to the fandom yet you already know them by so much. I wonder if its because most of us take things for granted that we fail to see what’s infront of us. I hope you get to see Soshi very very very soon! You probably deserve it (and I don’t say that much :P). Should I sign a petition? I think we need to get things moving in here if we want results.
Simply amazing! I’m sure the girls will be glad they managed to help you improve your hearing. Continue enjoying their music!
WOW, this is amazing. I actually cried at the end.
I’m glad you could hear again, and how you recovered (with the help of these 9 beautiful ladies) was one of the best ways to do it, right? :)
I really think they should somehow get to read your post. In my opinion, it would make them happy and give them even more strenght to work hard every day.
SNSD Fighting! :D
“They touched me deeply because many pop stars act like they are at the top of the world, but not Girls’ Generation. They act like human beings, like nine girls in their twenties. They are loud and playful, they say things from the heart, and they are so grateful to their fans that it makes us feel like we are the ones who are working hard for them.”
This words are so great and true!!
Other artists seem like far from us, alien. But not with SNSD, they’re showing their trueself to us.
This is amazing! To read it from a deaf person perspective, to understand how important Girl’s Generation are for us fans. I’m glad that you are on the recovery way to a better hearing, it will make us one more to enjoy the girls music :) And i see that you are new to this fandom, but so am I and I think you treasure them more than I do. It’s not like that I don’t love them ( heck, I admire them ) but I may take my hearing as granted. To a person like you, who loves music, suddenly lose your hearing it make you realize. So please continue to support Girl’s Generation, yeah? ;)