Exploring the Diversity of Music Experiences for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

TL;DR

This study explores how deaf and hard of hearing individuals experience music, highlighting their use of visual and tactile cues, and discusses design improvements for more accessible music experiences.

Contribution

It provides a situated understanding of DHH people's music interactions through social media analysis and offers practical design implications for accessibility.

Findings

DHH people use sign language and visual/haptic cues to experience music

Hearing aids are not optimized for music, affecting experience

Community support and information sharing are prevalent in DHH music communities

Abstract

Sensory substitution or enhancement techniques have been proposed to enable deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) people to listen to and even compose music. However, little is known about how such techniques enhance DHH people's music experience. Since deafness is a spectrum -- as are DHH people's preferences and perceptions of music -- a more situated understanding of their interaction with music is needed. To understand the music experience of this population, we conducted social media analyses, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in the deaf and hard of hearing Reddit communities. Our content analysis revealed that DHH people leveraged sign language and visual/haptic cues to feel the music and preferred familiar, non-lyrical, instrument-heavy, and loud music. In addition, hearing aids were not customized for music, and the visual/haptic techniques developed were not widely adopted by DHH people, leading to their suboptimal music experiences. The DHH community embodied mutual support among music lovers, evidenced by active information sharing and Q&A around music and hearing loss. We reflect on design justice for DHH people's music experience and propose practical design implications to create a more accessible music experience for them.