Aural Diversity Network

(AHRC-funded 2021–2023)

The AHRC-funded phase of the Aural Diversity Network concluded in July 2023, but the network has continued as an open, interdisciplinary community with an email discussion list, a quarterly newsletter, and occasional online catch-up events. To join, please use “Subscribe” in the menu above (or email info@auraldiversity.org).

Final report (AHRC network)

Note: the workshop programme pages are listed below. The main recordings are also indexed on the Events page for quick browsing.

About the network

Everybody hears differently, yet much of the world is still built around assumptions of a “standard ear”. In reality, hearing varies across individuals and changes across the life course. Many people experience age-related hearing change (presbycusis), and millions live with hearing conditions, disorders, traumas, or shocks. Hearing difference does not always mean “loss”: tinnitus, hyperacusis, misophonia, and auditory processing differences can involve heightened sensitivity, distortion, or selective aversion. Even temporary factors (such as illness) can alter listening in meaningful ways.

The Aural Diversity Network addresses this complex picture by supporting research and practice on differences in hearing and listening. It is not limited to disability or deafness alone: it brings together perspectives from music and sound studies, acoustics, audiology, design, architecture, engineering, the arts and humanities, and lived experience.

Objectives

  • Complement existing theoretical and practice-based research by exploring aural diversity.
  • Review, critique, and develop interdisciplinary methodologies for investigating hearing and listening difference.
  • Refine and advance thinking about access to the arts and humanities.
  • Improve hearing care through increased understanding of hearing and listening types.
  • Communicate findings to academic and non-academic communities.
  • Build a visible international critical mass and develop momentum for integrating aural diversity issues.

Workshops and events (AHRC network period)

During 2021–2023, the network staged five workshops and a major performance programme. Each workshop page includes the programme, speakers, and supporting materials.

  • Workshop 1 — Hearing Care and Hearing Technologies. Led by Prof. Alinka Greasley (University of Leeds), 1–2 September 2021.
  • Workshop 2 — Hearing Sciences and the Arts and Humanities. Led by Prof. Alinka Greasley (University of Leeds) and Prof. David Baguley (University of Nottingham), 13 January 2022.
  • Workshop 3 — Acoustics and Psychoacoustics. Led by Prof. Bill Davies (University of Salford), 26–27 May 2022.
  • Workshop 4 — Soundscape and Sound Studies. Led by Prof. John Levack Drever (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Prof. Josh Reiss (Queen Mary University of London), 16 September 2022.
  • Workshop 5 — Music and Performance. Led by Prof. Andrew Hugill (University of Leicester / Attenborough Arts Centre), 21–22 January 2023.

For concerts and public documentation, see Events.

Membership and partners

Network membership now stands at around 300 people and covers a wide range of academic disciplines, non-academic partners, and independent practitioners across music, sound studies, acoustics, hearing sciences, psychology, engineering, literature, media, philosophy, art, architecture, design, history, cultural studies, audiology, and more.

Examples of non-academic and professional partners (expand)

This list is illustrative rather than exhaustive, and includes organisations represented within workshops, events, collaborations, and discussions.

The mailing list figure also sits alongside a wider constituency of people who have attended or contributed to workshops and events without formally joining.

Illustrative feedback

The network’s impact has often been expressed as a cultural shift: increasing awareness, encouraging acceptance of difference, and creating connections between disciplines and lived experiences. The comments below were collected at the end of Workshop 5.

From academic and non-academic participants

  • “It has made connections between a diverse range of people with interests in Aural Diversity, including academics, arts and science practitioners, musicians, or anyone who is aurally diverse, and these connections have opened up new areas of enquiry, research and practice, inspired artists, composers, performers, writers, academics.”
  • “It has added to and enhanced my work with a community music organisation.”
  • “It has informed my PhD research, provided advice and a platform for getting feedback on ideas.”
  • “I have used AD materials in a PGR Advanced Methods workshop on sound and listening methods for social sciences.”
  • “Inspiration, multi-sensory knowledge, contacts, shifts in perception, openness, and much more.”
  • “Experiences of other aurally diverse people in many fields. The importance of further study and development.”
  • “Direct personal impact also for aurally diverse individuals meeting others with shared experiences.”
  • “Broadened understanding of the ways in which people hear (e.g. feeling sound through vibrations).”

From clinicians

  • “It has influenced the way I speak with patients about hearing difference and given me confidence in speaking on the subject.”
  • “I found the initial Infographic produced extremely useful professionally, I have it printed on an A3 paper and pasted on my audiology clinic wall; colleagues and patients find it informative and fascinating!”
  • “It has enhanced therapy awareness (CI, dual-sensory impairment, types of disabilities, rehabilitation).”
  • “About certain hearing devices being designed primarily with understanding speech as their focus, but limited emphasis on listening to music.”

Research themes

Three major themes emerged from network discussions, each with its own set of research questions.

Theme 1: The shape of aural diversity

How should aural diversity be conceptualised and theorised? Is it best characterised as a taxonomy, a network, a spectrum, or something else? Where are commonalities and differences found? What new interdisciplinary methods are needed to study aural diversity? Can new model listeners and new models of listening be developed?

Theme 2: Aural diversity in the disciplines

How is aural diversity perceived in disciplines that deal with sound and hearing, and how should those disciplines change to accommodate it? How can the acoustic design of places and products be improved for a diverse population? How can music-making work better for aurally divergent people? How can hearing care improve through better understanding of different needs? How might machine listening and AI broaden to reflect aural diversity?

Theme 3: Improving the lived experience of aural diversity

What does it mean to be aurally divergent? Who is aurally divergent, and what are their biggest problems and surprising advantages? How can new knowledge improve accessibility, inclusion, and equality? What standards are needed for aural diversity inclusion across sectors including environment, health, labour, and the creative industries? How and where will aural diversity be celebrated?

Likely future developments include funding bids relating to these themes. Clusters of shared interest have emerged around: Acoustics; Architecture and Design; Audio Engineering; Audiology; Autism and Neurodivergence; Cultural and Disability Studies; Hearing Technologies; Law and Policy; Literature and History.

AHRC logo
AHRC-funded network activity (2021–2023).