Jeff Rosen went to his first Grateful Dead concert in 1982 just to experience the vibes–deaf since birth, he didn’t know what songs the band was playing, or what lyrics Jerry Garcia and company were singing. Yet he plunged himself into the experience, absorbing the physical vibrations from the music and soaking up the atmosphere in an arena packed with dancing fans.

This past weekend at Soldier Field stadium in Chicago, Rosen and about 40 other deaf and hard of hearing fans experienced the Grateful Dead live in a more enhanced way. In a “Deaf Zone” that concert organizers had gated off on the stadium floor about 60 yards from the stage, three sign language interpreters worked in rotation, translating the meaning of songs from “China Cat Sunflower” to “Truckin.’”

Facing the audience, some of whom held balloons that helped catch the sound pulses in the air, the interpreters took turns standing on a lighted platform, moving their hands and arms with fluid messages. They glanced down at song lyrics on a tablet computer and wore headphones plugged directly into a vocal mix from the band’s soundboard. Next to the interpreter’s podium was a 55-inch video screen featuring close-up views of the musicians, allowing the Deaf Zone fans to better see their faces and, for some, to read their lips....

“This experience has been amazing. Just a major double thumbs up,” Mark Dorsey said before Sunday’s concert, using American Sign Language during an interview in which a hearing friend translated. When the shows were first announced last January, Dorsey, a counselor at a school for the deaf in Riverside, Calif., immediately contacted concert promoter Peter Shapiro to rally for access.