aural diversity
{{Short description|Diversity in the sense of hearing}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{primary sources|date=June 2024}}
{{tone|date=June 2024}}
}}
Aural Diversity describes the plurality of the sense of hearing, encompassing the whole of human and animal nature and extending to machine listening.{{cite book |last1=Drever |first1=John L |last2=Hugill |first2=Andrew |title=Aural Diversity |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781003183624}} The Aural Diversity Infographic shows its scope, including: the many changes in so-called “normal” hearing that occur over a lifetime; the universal variations that affect everybody's hearing; the medically identifiable hearing conditions of roughly one sixth of the world's population; and an array of technologies that mediate hearing, such as hearing aids, prosthetics (e.g. cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, middle ear implants and bone conduction implants), and all kinds of hearable devices.
An important feature of Aural Diversity is the recognition that it includes not only the many forms of hearing loss, but also an increased sensitivity to sound in conditions such as auditory processing disorder, auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, tinnitus, hyperacusis, misophonia and various types of neurodivergence.
The ways in which sound may be heard, processed and understood vary greatly. Existing standards{{cite book |last1=International Organization for Standardization |title=ISO, B., 2003. 226: 2003: Acoustics–Normal equal-loudness-level contours |date=2003 |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/83117.html}} articulate a notion of “otological normalcy” based on the hearing of healthy 18-25 year-olds (who represent roughly 17% of the population). Aural Diversity therefore challenges the tacit assumptions that underpin disciplines ranging from auditory science and acoustics to audiology and acoustical engineering, from architecture and design to music and psychology.
The study of Aural Diversity focuses on these differences and their implications for any situation involving sound. It is therefore characterized by its transdisciplinarity, welcoming not only traditional academic papers, but also sharing of lived experience and the creation of artworks that are regarded as equally important to increasing scientific understanding and social acceptance. In general, it avoids terms like “impairment”, “deficit”, and “loss”, preferring instead more neutral words such as “difference”. There is an overlap with Disability Studies and with Deaf culture, but the scope of Aural Diversity concerns itself with the full spectrum of hearing difference.
History
“Auraldiversity”, consciously echoing neurodiversity, was coined by Prof. John Levack Drever, who first presented the term and concept at Hearing Landscape Critically, Harvard University, in 2015. The term arose from the findings of his study of the noise impact of high-speed hand dryers and the inadequacy of policy and guidance of acoustics.{{cite journal |last1=Drever |first1=John L. |title=The Case For Auraldiversity In Acoustic Regulations And Practice: The Hand Dryer Noise Story |journal=24th International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV24) |date=July 2017 |pages=23–27 |url=https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/20814/}} He subsequently applied the term to sonic art{{Cite journal |last=Drever |first=John Levack |date=April 2019 |title='Primacy of the Ear' – But Whose Ear?: The case for auraldiversity in sonic arts practice and discourse |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/organised-sound/article/abs/primacy-of-the-ear-but-whose-ear-the-case-for-auraldiversity-in-sonic-arts-practice-and-discourse/8F05C64D4A8AD260652B45BE49ECC9F4 |journal=Organised Sound |language=en |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=85–95 |doi=10.1017/S1355771819000086 |issn=1355-7718}} and sound art practice{{Citation |last=Drever |first=John L. |title=Sound Art: Hearing in Particular |date=2021-10-07 |work=The Oxford Handbook of Sound Art |pages=0 |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Jane |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/35433/chapter-abstract/303237781?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-03-09 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274054.013.38 |isbn=978-0-19-027405-4 |editor2-last=Matthias |editor2-first=John |editor3-last=Prior |editor3-first=David}}.The Aural Diversity Project{{cite web |last1=Aural Diversity Network |title=Aural Diversity Project |url=https://auraldiversity.org/|access-date=26 June 2024}} was founded in 2018 by Andrew Hugill with funding from GNResound Ltd and Arts Council England. It has staged several academic conferences and some innovative concerts which combined aurally divergent musicians and audiences to explore new ways of listening. The Aural Diversity Network, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, was established in 2021. The book Aural Diversity, co-edited by Drever and Hugill, was published in 2022. In 2024, the development consultancy Arup Acoustics published their Aural Diversity Toolkit{{cite web |last1=Arup |title=Aural Diversity Toolkit |url=https://www.arup.com/insights/aural-diversity-toolkit/}} in consultation with the network and the Welsh Government included Aural Diversity in their “Noise and Soundscape Plan for Wales 2023-2028”.{{cite book |last1=Welsh Government |title=Noise and soundscape plan for Wales 2023 to 2028 |date=4 December 2023 |publisher=Welsh Government |isbn=978-1-83577-082-5 |url=https://www.gov.wales/noise-and-soundscape-plan-for-wales-2023-2028 |access-date=26 June 2024}} The Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity Doctoral Research Hub (LAURA){{cite web |last1=University of Salford |title=LAURA: The Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity Doctoral Research Hub |url=https://www.salford.ac.uk/school-of-science-engineering-and-environment/laura-the-leverhulme-trust-aural-diversity-doctoral-research-hub |publisher=University of Salford |access-date=26 June 2024}} was established in 2024 with a £2.2 million award at the University of Salford and Goldsmiths, University of London, though Goldsmiths had to drop out as a result of academic lay-offs in Summer 2024.