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

Music plays an important role in the personal fulfillment and cognitive performance of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) individuals. 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 and followed this up with interviews with DHH people. Our analysis revealed accessibility challenges, i.e., hearing aids were not customized for music, visual/haptic techniques developed were not widely available and affordable, and accessibility accommodations by music streaming apps and offline events were imperfect– leading to suboptimal music experiences. In response, DHH people leveraged audio, visual, and physical senses to listen to the music – treating it as a full-body experience; as accessibility heuristics, they may also prefer familiar, non lyrical, instrument-heavy, or loud music, which was perceived as more accessible. The DHH community embodied mutual support among music lovers, evidenced by active information sharing around music. Misconceptions by hearing people regarding how DHH people listen to music were reported, which is a major hurdle for creating a more accessible music experience. We reflect on design justice for DHH people’s music experience based on a situated understanding and propose practical design implications to create a more accessible music experience for them.