Matt Hay

Matt Hay, MBA has a long journey toward deafness and even longer journey toward learning to “hear” again with an experimental brainstem implant. He first publicly shared his story on a National Public Radio (NPR) podcast titled Soundtrack of Silence. The intimate, funny and authentic peek at what it’s like to start a career, fall in love and build a life while battling a rare disease inspired actor Channing Tatum and Paramount Pictures to option the motion picture rights to Matt’s life story. Matt’s memoir is slated for a 2024 release by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan.

When Matt isn’t adding tracks to the soundtrack of his life, he passionately supports the hearing loss community as a consultant for the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf and member of the Columbia University Genetic Counseling Advisory Board. He’s proudly served as a Congressional lobbyist for neurofibromatosis (NF) research funding, the genetic disorder that caused his hearing loss, and has raised money for NF research by doing endurance events, including an Ironman Triathlon and most recently, the Boston Marathon.

Matt currently serves the rare disease community as the US Director of Advocacy for a global biopharmaceutical company. He lives in Westfield, Indiana, with his wife (whom he’s quick to point out is the hero of his stories) and three children.