Auraldiversity - from hearing as universal to hearing in particular

The term auraldiversity expresses the surprisingly provocative idea that hearing should not be represented as a fixed, ideal, symmetrical, mechanistic, universal set of metrics predicated on the otologically normal, but rather, as a capricious sense that we and others tacitly know from day to day experience, and will continue to learn from as we continue to carry out our lives. Celebrating the imminent publication, Aural Diversity (edited by Drever & Hugill, Routledge 2023), Drever will chart the development of the concept arising out of necessity from a study on highspeed hand dryer noise. The talk will look back at one of the earliest recorded urban noise studies, London Street Noises from 1928, from a time that predates the employment of the decibel and the preoccupation with hearing loss from exposure to sound. In conclusion, the talk will explore some of the different areas that can benefit from taking a more aurally diverse approach, as espoused in the book.