For some, there is tinnitus. For others, there is no sound at all. This film invites us to step outside the familiar world of sound to redefine and newly experience it. This invitation, in turn, leads to other questions: Outside our familiar world, how is sound perceived? How does our interaction with it change?​

* By the director’s intention, the sound for this film will play exclusively through the left channel. This artistic choice does not apply to barrier-free screenings or online screenings via docuVoDA. 

With camera in hand, the director seeks to redefine our relationship with sound by meeting people whose engagement with it is unconventional. An elderly man with tinnitus, a woman who is deaf, and others with partial hearing loss are all attuned to alternative modes of listening, experiencing sound beyond the ordinary. Alongside them, acoustics experts explain how an object’s condition, and the combination of sounds it produces, can alter—and even deceive—our perception. A key example illustrates the point: the sizzle of pancakes and the patter of rain can sound strikingly similar due to their matching waveforms. 

In exploring not only such similarities but also the differences, Seeound reveals how illness or disability need not be a handicap, but can instead be the foundation for a fresh sensory perspective. By championing the primacy of listening over seeing, the film invites us to step outside the familiar world of sound and discover new ways of experiencing our sonic environment.

One early summer night in my grandmother’s mountain village, the darkness was filled with the sound of frogs. Unlike the noise of Seoul, it was a sound that brought me comfort. Perhaps sound is more than mere vibration —perhaps it's where sensation, memory, and culture intertwine. To truly experience sound may not belong to the ears alone. After all, you can close your eyes, but you can never close your ears. This documentary listens to familiar sounds in unfamiliar ways, exploring the senses beyond hearing and seeking a new connection between the world’s soundscape and ourselves.