Aural Diversity describes the plurality of the sense of hearing, encompassing the whole of human and animal nature and extending to machine listening.
It is therefore characterized by its transdisciplinarity, welcoming not only traditional academic papers, but also sharing of lived experience and the creation of artworks that are regarded as equally important to increasing scientific understanding and social acceptance.
There is an overlap with Disability Studies and with Deaf culture, but the scope of Aural Diversity concerns itself with the full spectrum of hearing difference.
“Auraldiversity”, consciously echoing neurodiversity, was coined by Prof. John Levack Drever, who first presented the term and concept at Hearing Landscape Critically, Harvard University, in 2015.
It has staged several academic conferences and some innovative concerts which combined aurally divergent musicians and audiences to explore new ways of listening.