The world Laurentia Tan lives in is silent but she hears people through lip reading and listens to music by hugging a speaker to feel the vibrations, which she decodes as the tune's tempo, rhythm and its nuances.

And, at times, it is filled with pure agony. Last year, pain in her spine shot up to her shoulders. Surgery was required to drill a hole in her backbone so that it did not impinge on her nerves. That saw her laying horizontal for three months.