Aural Diversity Toolkit
Arup and the Aural Diversity Network have developed a toolkit to help designers create spaces and environments that meet the needs of everyone. This toolkit addresses the broader needs of those with aural sensitivities and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations, further research and other relevant aspects to consider to better inform design for inclusive environments.
Aural needs are wide
Aural diversity refers to a wide range of auditory experiences and abilities. It recognises differences in how individuals perceive and interact with sound. This can include people who have different levels of sensitivity to frequencies and volumes, are particularly attuned to some types of sound, who experience and process sound in a different way, who are more reliant on hearing to compensate for other sensory loss or who have no hearing at all.
Toolkit approach
This toolkit captures the lived experiences of real people. Through questionnaires and interviews, they developed a series of anonymised, aurally divergent personas to facilitate a design dialogue and enable designers and engineers to make evidence-based decisions around inclusive acoustic design. These personas are presented in this toolkit alongside the findings of their research and emerging design advice.
Broad recommendations
Recommended considerations in the toolkit cover the following aspects for designing acoustically inclusive environments:
- Acoustics
- Wayfinding
- Multi-sensory environments
- Choice of environments
- Prior information
- Sound systems
- Assistive designs
Next steps
More research is required to understand the acoustic interventions and requirements to inform built environment design for aurally diverse people. This might include some of the following:
- Defining enhanced acoustic standards for aurally divergent users in various spaces:
- Acceptable internal noise limits
- Desirable reverberation times
- Appropriate sound insulation criteria
- The role of music in aiding or hindering an acoustic environment or sound-scape
- The role of acoustic zoning within buildings and cities to help aurally divergent users
- The usefulness of partially separate acoustic pods
- More insights into how aurally divergent people experience soundscapes, to better inform inclusive design
A downloadable version of the Toolkit available here, has been designed to work with most assistive tools such as screen readers.
Thanks to Adam Thomas of Arup, Senior Acoustics Consultant with Arup, for his contribution and enthusiasm raising awareness about the toolkit and this important topic. For more info about the Toolkit please contact Jemma Jones at Arup.
Other relevant articles:
The impact of noise on neurodivergent students:
How unique the sound environment can be from the perspective of a child:
