Importance of Iris's radios

Iris's radios are symbols of how she wishes to communicate. She explains early on that she loves to restore old radios so that they make sound again, sad at the notion that they will be silent and forgotten forever. This notion that she can lend these objects a voice seems cathartic, given that she is surrounded by people who do not communicate with her at her level because she is Deaf and the rest of her family and peers are hearing.