Deep-sea acoustics engineer with high-frequency hearing loss versus documentary filmmaker and childhood aphasia survivor.
When Xie Shengchi says, “Don't leave me,” Shen Zhiyao hears, “Good night.” Xie Shengchi records his confession as a 52-hertz whale song, but Shen Zhiyao has to lower the frequency to 16 hertz to perceive it. He thinks he's chasing a silent mystery, unaware that through his touch, he is reading everything Xie Shengchi has never said aloud.
• Physical deafness traps Shen Zhiyao in the frequency of whales.
• Emotional deafness traps Xie Shengchi in the noise inside his own mind.
