Opportunities to Support Communal Experiences of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People in Live Popular Music Concerts

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) people attend live popular music concerts. While communal experiences such as fan chanting and group dancing are often the major reasons for going to concerts, no existing tools have been designed to support such experiences for D/HH people in live popular music concerts. We interviewed five D/HH people to understand current challenges and technological demands for better communal experiences in live popular music concerts. All participants expressed eagerness to participate in communal activities. They could follow behavioral group activities that were visually recognizable (e.g., audience waves). However, due to the lack of other sensory guides, they reported that they had experienced difficulties joining sound-based communal activities (e.g., fan chanting). To tackle these challenges, our participants suggested utilizing visual stimuli, such as AR glasses, to provide some contextual information that enables D/HH people to understand and pinpoint the right moment to engage in communal experiences.