Title:
TEMPORAL IMAGERY FOR AURAL DIVERSITY: AUDITORY DISPLAYS AS ARTIFACTS OF SONIC ART ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN UNAIDED AND COCHLEAR IMPLANT LISTENERS

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Ramakrishnan, Sharath Chandra
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Abstract
This paper advocates for the position that aurally diverse methodologies for designing auditory displays are needed, that not only take into account varied hearing capacities, but also conceive of a participatory and trans-disciplinary approach for collectively engaging diverse forms and conversations about listening, and shared associations with auditory imagery. Further, in light of the complex history that the notion of hearing disability and the evolution of commercial sound technology has had within the normalizing agenda of medical institutions, a call for methods of engagement that necessarily depart from the ubiquitous model of clinical testing for the ideal ‘ear’ is made. The paper illustrates this position by extrapolating possibilities within the context of a subset of machine mediated listening, specifically cochlear implant based listening. It proceeds by speculating how auditory displays that rely on temporal perception may produce shared associations in auditory imagery, and a meeting ground for unaided listening and cochlear implant based listening in the social acoustic world. Building upon previous work by scholars who originally conceptualized the notion of auraldiversity, the paper identifies a list of creative propositions to serve as a guide to shape outcomes and participatory modes of engagement using sonic arts practices. These include methods from sound art practitioners that have creatively dealt with affordances of sound to question normative listening, explore new aesthetics of sound, and blend collaborative processes with cognitive aspects of social listening through a collective elicitation of auditory imagery. By diversifying the process of designing auditory displays, we can challenge and contrast traditional models of testing for the ’ideal’ ear, to re-route auditory display research and design towards embracing hearing diversity. The paper invites the reader and the wider auditory display community to frame more such opportunities to adopt participatory methodologies for designing sonification for aural diversity.
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2024-06
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Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)