Big Ocean, the first hearing-impaired K-pop act, on April 16 pose for photos at the practice room of Parastar Entertainment in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District. (Margareth Theresia)

By Margareth Theresia and Lee Kyoung Mi
Video = Big Ocean's YouTube channel

"We dream of a world with no barriers where disabled and non-disabled people, young and old, and Koreans and non-Koreans can live together in harmony. We also want everyone to express themselves freely and accept themselves for who they are."

This is what Big Ocean, the nation's first hearing-impaired K-pop act, said when asked about how its three members feel ahead of their debut on April 20, or Persons with Disabilities Day in Korea.

The boy band said the debut seeks to break misunderstanding and prejudice toward disabled people. Despite questions like how can this be a K-pop if its members cannot hear, they confidently took on the challenge of going beyond their disability to emerge as a new breed of idol group in the world.

At the practice room of its management agency Parastar Entertainment in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District, Big Ocean on April 16 candidly told Korea.net about its preparation for its debut. Despite the members' hearing impairment, they faced no difficulty in communication thanks to hearing aids and lip-reading techniques.

Big Ocean said in its April 16 interview told Korea.net, "We wish to live together in a world with no barriers." From left are members Lee Chanyeon, Park Hyunjin and Kim Jiseok (Lee Kyoung Mi)

The group's name refers to the stability of a big ocean full of hope. For members Kim Jiseok, Park Hyunjin and Lee Chanyeon, assembling a K-pop group was not their initial dream as Kim was an alpine skier, Park a YouTuber and Lee an audiologist at Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul. 

The world's attitude toward people with disabilities brought them together. They formed a K-pop act to break misunderstanding and prejudice toward the hearing disabled. From January last year, they began preparing to debut but faced a difficult path despite their determination.

All three members use hearing aids, with each of the three having a different level of hearing that made matching the beats, rhythms, notes and dance moves their biggest problem. 

"As each member recognized beats at different speeds, it was so difficult for us to sync at first," Park said. "The vibrating wristwatch we got from our agency allowed us to detect the beats easily." 

Singing was also important, but the group initially failed to recognize high and low tones because of an inability to gauge how their voices would sound to others. Their vivid explanation of their experience attested to how challenging their training was. 

"Through practice, we memorized what sounds to make according to the movement of our abdominal muscles. Now we can easily distinguish each musical scale," the group said about the key to singing.

"We can make songs not only in Korean sign language but also the sign languages of other countries like the U.S. or the international standard, raising the scope of linguistic exchange even further," the group said. 

"These days, we see many comments by people saying they want to learn Korean sign language, so we believe that more people will begin to learn it as well as Korean culture and language."

The group received the global spotlight a few months before its debut. Fans abroad including those in Brazil, the U.S. and Indonesia wrote a lot of messages of support on Big Ocean's social media. 

On their most memorable comment, the three members mentioned "Thank you for reaching out to the world." 

"I'm so grateful for the courage to make our debut," Kim said. "So it seems we're getting a lot of attention and high expectations."

Big Ocean said it will try other entertainment channels after its debut, mentioning other genres like music broadcasting, entertainment, dramas and films. 

"We hope that our debut leads to higher awareness of disabled people and conveys to young people, disabled or not, a message of never giving up on their dreams," the group said on its goals. "In the future, we hope to see more artists displaying their own unique skills, not just their hearing impairments."

Big Ocean's debut on April 20 will feature "Glow," a cover of the 1998 hit "Hope" by first-generation K-pop boy band H.O.T when the nation was in the throes of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The members said they chose the song to convey a message of "pulling together to fight." 

"We want Big Ocean to become like a 'light' to offer strength to all people, disabled or not," they said. "Let's build together a world with no prejudice." 

margareth@korea.kr