Sonic Agency: A Group Autoethnography of Technology-mediated Performance Practice by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Musicians

While many assistive devices and accessible technologies aim to increase access and participation of d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) audiences, DHH people’s active participation in music performance remains limited. Through a 15-month-long group autoethnography, we present a case study of a Deaf-owned music and culture institution in a mixed-hearing, technology-mediated performance practice. We unpack how technologies are adapted and developed by DHH musicians and highlight the existing and emerging challenges of mixed hearing creative spaces. We use retrospective accounts, field notes, and performance artifacts to reveal the methods we developed for more inclusive music co-creativity. We lastly present three essential strategies that support DHH individuals’ sonic agency and access, with or without prior music knowledge, applicable by different actors who partake in the DHH or mixed hearing music performance ecosystem.