This Grand Finale will mark the end of the AHRC-funded research project, ‘Compositions for Cochlear Implantees’; a collaboration between the ISVR, the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre and Music in the Faculty of Humanities.
For severely or profoundly deaf people who receive little benefit from conventional hearing aids, a cochlear implant can provide useful speech perception. However, current devices are very poor at conveying information important for music and many cochlear implant users find this particularly challenging. The objectives for this multidisciplinary project included the development and evaluation of aural (re)habilitation materials for (and with) cochlear implant users to aid their perception of and engagement with music.
Project leaders Dr Rachel van Besouw (ISVR) and Professor David Nicholls (Music) will introduce the Grand Finale with a public seminar about the challenges of current cochlear implant technology and the findings of this multidisciplinary research project. This seminar will be followed by an exciting and interactive concert of new works specifically aimed at cochlear implant users (but suitable for all), composed by Dr Benjamin Oliver (Music) and performed by an ensemble of outstanding student and professional musicians.
Both concert and seminar will be filmed for the AHRC’s new digital showcase and will be supported by a Speech to Text Reporter and a British Sign Language Interpreter.
Tickets for the event are free and are now available from the Turner Sims box office: http://tinyurl.com/C4CIGrandFinale