Tinnitus, Auditory Knowledge and the Arts

The aim of this project is to interrogate the relationship between tinnitus and the creative arts, with a view to enriching understandings of and diversifying dominant cultural tropes about the condition. Around 30% of people experience tinnitus at some point in their lives, with prevalence increasing with age. Clinical approaches rely on measurable, objectifying frameworks for discussing the condition, understanding it in terms of impairment and dysfunctionality. In humanities and popular discourse, descriptions of tinnitus rarely extend beyond evocations of ringing in the ears. Yet experiences of tinnitus are highly individualized and context-specific. The project proposes that the creative arts - as a field concerned with self-expression and sensory, subjective and contextual experience - may serve a key role in developing alternative methods, frameworks and terminologies that can effectively account for tinnitus' variations, resulting in better understandings of the diverse ways in which tinnitus is experienced by listeners.

In this project, tinnitus is framed as a condition with diverse manifestations and a critical lens through which to re-evaluate understandings of auditory experience in the arts and humanities. The objectives are explored through four questions: 1) how can the creative arts generate and mediate knowledge about tinnitus? 2) How does tinnitus transform concepts of listening, embodiment, noise and soundscape? 3) How might practice-based arts research be used to develop alternative approaches to tinnitus, enriching understandings of the condition? 4) How might the creative arts be beneficial to the tinnitus community?

This project offers an innovative response to RCUK's theme of Lifelong Health and Wellbeing. Consisting of three strands, it involves collaboration between academics, artists and two non-HEI partners: The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) and Oxford Visual Arts Development Agency (OVADA). The non-HEI partners' relationships with medical researchers, care professionals, clinicians and support groups (BTA); and artists and the general public (OVADA), will enable the project to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and benefit from the sharing of expertise. The project will also be aided by an advisory committee of two external collaborators: Professor of Hearing Sciences, David Baguley and Professor of Music, John Levack Drever.

The first strand examines the aesthetics of tinnitus, critically reflecting upon aural, visual and rhetorical depictions in the arts. It involves a cross-disciplinary symposium, bringing together clinicians with arts, humanities and sciences academics, resulting in the development of a special issue of the journal The Senses and Society.

The second strand explores how artistic methods adapted from soundwalking and sound-mapping can generate knowledge about the spatial, psychoacoustic and affective properties of tinnitus. It involves three one-day workshops with participants from the tinnitus community. These will be held in Sheffield, Oxford and London; and will offer a space to critically and creatively reflect upon how experiences of tinnitus are shared. The BTA and the advisory committee will help promote the workshops and offer practical guidance. Outcomes from the workshops will be hosted on an interactive, public-facing website, alongside work from the other strands of the project.

The third strand involves the development of an art exhibition, facilitated by OVADA. Consisting of newly-commissioned work responding to the project's core themes, this will also interrogate how tinnitus and auraldiversity can inform curatorial and exhibition practice.

Combining artistic methods, theoretical reflection and stakeholder engagement, this project makes an original contribution to discourses around health, medical science and the arts; and to important discussions about disability and accessibility in sound studies, arts theory and practice.

The project beneficiaries outside of academia are our two non-HEI partners: the British Tinnitus Association (BTA) and Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency (OVADA). These organisations represent two mixed publics. The BTA offers support to those who experience tinnitus and work with a network of independent support groups, counselling service providers, audiologists and other medical practitioners. OVADA is an artist-led organisation, which works with creative networks in Oxfordshire, as well as emerging and established national and international artists. OVADA has working links with local organisations and public bodies, including the Oxford City and Oxfordshire County Council; and Oxford City College.

The active participation of non-HEI partners in the project provides a number of opportunities for impact between academia, the tinnitus community and the arts. The project's workshops, interactive website and exhibition will be developed in consultation with the partner organisations and the project's advisory committee. These parties will also help shape the website's content, ensuring it is accessible to a wide range of stakeholders.

The project will build upon the recognition of the two non-HEI partners to reach out to members of the tinnitus community and the general public. The workshops will provide an opportunity for those with tinnitus to share their experiences and to engage with artist practitioners. The public-facing website will outline the project's progress and provide resources and documentation from the different strands in a way that is accessible, interactive and innovative. The exhibition will draw public attention to the diversity of tinnitus as a condition, as well as the work of the non-HEI partners' organisations. It will also provide OVADA and their artistic communities with an opportunity to raise questions as to how auraldiversity may impact upon audience's experience of exhibitions, gallery spaces and art events, potentially resulting in revisions to policy and practice.

The project also raises important questions for both academic researchers and non-academic organisations around processes of working collaboratively with medical communities and auraldiverse participants. In providing an opportunity to creatively and critically reflect upon how experiences of tinnitus are mediated and communicated, the project will enable the non-HEI partners to subsequently raise questions around these issues in their communities of experts and actors. As a consequence, it is anticipated that the project will lead to the development of new information resources for those with tinnitus and contribute to discussions around best practice.