School of Music
Do you listen to music? Will you be listening to it through hearing aids in the future?
Hearing aid (HA) technology was developed to enhance access to spoken language and developments in the field continue to focus on this aspect. Music, however, plays a key role in many people’s lives contributing to their health and wellbeing. Indeed its importance is increasingly recognised in the care of elderly members of our communities.
Currently 1 in 7 people in the UK have a hearing loss and it is anticipated this will increase to 1 in 5 of us by 2025 as a result of our listening habits (e.g. the use of earphones) and an ageing population.
Our project ‘Hearing Aids for Music’ is a three-phase study of how hearing loss and the use of HAs affect people’s musical enjoyment. It builds on existing work and is the first of its kind to explore HA users’ experiences from diagnosis. It aims to develop our understanding of the functional impact of hearing loss, HA technologies and the fitting process on musical engagement to enhance provision and improve services not just for current HA users but also for ourselves in future years.
The final stage of the project is an online survey and we are looking to recruit as many of the 6 million HA users in the UK as possible to contribute their experiences.
We would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavour.
If you
- have a hearing loss (e.g. mild, moderate, severe or profound)
- wear hearing aid(s) (but NOT a cochlear implant)
- are between 18-90 years old
we would appreciate your time in completing the survey.
We will ask you about your:
- experience of music in everyday life
- musical preferences
- hearing
- hearing aids
The survey will take about 30 minutes and you will remain anonymous.
If leave your contact details, you will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £75 cash prizes. Winners will be selected at random and notified in January 2017.
- Contact: Dr J M Salter - School of Music - j.m.salter@leeds.ac.uk
- Ethical approval reference number: PVAR 15-039
- Closing date for participants: 30 January 2017