A Full Circle Moment
‘The Colors of Sound’ 2025, by Nicolle Cure – Commissioned pieces created exclusively for the new UHealth SoLé Mia Medical Center in North Miami Beach. (Photo Credits: Isabella Frias/UHealth)
When I first experienced Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) in August 2017, my life shifted overnight. On the morning of August 4, I woke to intense pressure on the right side of my head and complete hearing loss in that ear. Parts of my face were numb, and I felt a strange sensation—as if a balloon were expanding inside my skull, ready to burst. Doctors later attributed that feeling to severe inflammation of the ear and cranial nerves. Dizzy and disoriented, I went from urgent care to an ENT, where audiology and caloric tests confirmed profound hearing loss in my right ear—nearly 100 percent.
The weeks that followed were a blur of steroid treatments, intratympanic injections, MRIs, and consultations with countless specialists. I battled vertigo, migraines, tinnitus (constant ringing), and hyperacusis (painful sound sensitivity). Even the simplest sounds—a phone ringing, a text ping, a door closing—felt like needles, with a burning edge. The pressure in my head and ears was so intense I couldn’t think. I struggled to keep my balance; some days I couldn’t get out of bed or walk a straight line, let alone paint.
However, with the help of Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) and a remarkable team at the University of Miami’s Ear Institute, I regained my balance and, through a variety of treatments, recovered a small portion of low-frequency hearing while learning to adapt to a new normal: constant dizziness, extreme fatigue, and the ringing and static in my ear that have never gone away. That experience reshaped everything—my daily routines, my response to sound, and the way I create.
*If you’d like the extended, detailed version of what happened, you can find it here.
Finding My Way Back
Little by little, I returned to my creative practice. At first it was short sessions in the studio, sitting on the floor because standing too long brought on waves of vertigo. Placing the canvases flat felt instinctive and grounding, a way to keep my balance while still making marks.
I began experimenting with fluid inks and layered pigments, watching how color spread and merged across wet paper and canvas. The movement of paint through water reminded me of how sound travels through air: rippling, unpredictable, sometimes soft and sometimes forceful. I followed those flows instead of trying to control them, letting the materials create their own rhythms.
Slowly, this process became its own language. Each pool of color and layered wash translated the vibrations I could feel but no longer fully hear—a visual echo of my altered reality. What began as cautious gestures grew into a body of work that captured the sensation of sound itself, moving from ethereal, translucent washes to compositions of dynamic shapes in vibrant hues. Over the years, this approach has continued to evolve, leading to follow-up collections such as The Colors of Sound: Supernova and The Calm Collection.
Coming Full Circle
I never imagined it would all come full circle. The Colors of Sound paintings—created exclusively for the new UHealth SoLéMia Medical Facility in North Miami/Aventura (opening Fall 2025)—now live permanently on the 5th floor in the Audiology Department. Their title pays tribute to my series The Colors of Sound, the first collection I created after my hearing-loss and Ménière’s diagnosis, when I began exploring abstract forms to illustrate my experience and convey my own interpretation of sound.
Photo Credits: Isabella Frias/UHealth
