Why You Should Listen to Cyborgs: Autoethnographic Methods and Ecological Validity in Interactive Acoustics Research

This paper offers a humanities-based perspective on autoethnographic data collection from long-term d/Deaf wearers of hearing aids. Smart hearing aids afford the d/Deaf wearer enhanced sociality as well as close interaction with smart acoustic agents that are shaped by the wearer's habits and needs. The wearer is in turn shaped by these technologies down to the neurological level, keeping speech processing centers active to enable social and mental health. Such long-term, successful adopters are contemporary cyborgs, humans whose bodies integrate compulsory technological components. These experienced users often construct listening ecologies that incorporate a variety of analog and digital acoustic components that include speakers, directional mics, smart phones, mylar balloons, and simply sensing vibrations in addition to their hearing aids or cochlear implants. Autoethnographic methods can capture the nuanced, subjective experiences of cyborgs who work closely with acoustic devices across multiple decades and in highly variable environments. Among other things, autoethnography offers data on the ways highly functional wearers use aids to manage disability disclosure and inequity and create highly specific listening ecologies.