The first film directed by a woman (Randa Haines) to be Oscar nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Marlee Matlin won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Sarah Norman in this film. At 21 years and 218 days, she is the youngest ever winner of a Best Actress Oscar. Matlin is also one of only four actresses to win the Best Actress Oscar for a debut film performance, the other three being Shirley Booth for Kehr zurück, kleine Sheba (1952), Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins (1964), and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968).
The film's box office takings shot up by an unprecedented 164% after Marlee Matlin's Oscar win for Best Actress.
For her Best Actress Oscar acceptance speech, actress Marlee Matlin thanked the film's cast and crew, "particularly William Hurt for his great support and love", with the aid and assistance of an interpreter.
The movie was distinguishable from earlier films about deafness such as Schweigende Lippen (1948), Licht im Dunkel (1962), The Miracle Worker (1979), and Das Herz ist ein einsamer Jäger (1968) in that the picture was cast with deaf and hard of hearing actors and actresses for the deaf and hearing impaired roles.