From a Wall Street Journal review by Melissa Holbrook Pierson of the book by John Cotter titled “Losing Music: A Memoir”:

Helen Keller was uniquely positioned to judge misfortune. She delivered her verdict in a 1910 letter: “The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus—the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keeps us in the intellectual company of man.” It is hard to imagine a more devastating loss than that for a writer. John Cotter’s “Losing Music” is his moving account of what it has entailed.