Music

Many people with hearing impairment are keen music listeners, however they can show a preference for less complex types of music [1]. Highly complex music, such as orchestral scores can be less pleasant for listeners than simpler music such as folk songs. This project would focus on understanding and measuring the music preferences (focussing on complexity) of hearing-impaired or aurally diverse listeners, and then developing methods that can re-process or re-mix existing music to make it more suitable and appealing for these listeners. This work would build on work undertaken by the S3A project which aimed to use object-based audio to alter audio complexity in TV [2].

[1] Jo, S., Yun, J., Kyong, J. S., Shin, Y., & Kim, J. (2023). Music Perception Abilities of the Hearing Amplification System Users. Journal of Audiology & Otology, 27(2), 78. https://doi.org/10.7874/JAO.2022.00367

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2018-01-accessibility-object-based-media

Supervisors: Rebecca Vos and Alan Williams

The enjoyment of live performances is highly dependent on the aural experience in the audience. This project focuses on strategies to deliver appropriate audio content to audiences with diverse aural profiles. Some of these strategies might investigate the use of different live sound zones across an audience or the use of augmented audio targeting specific individuals. Appropriate knowledge of live sound reproduction engineering as well as audio signal processing are desirable skills for this project.

Supervisors: Adam Hart and Bruno Fazenda