In 2021, Marie Thompson (The Open University), Patrick Farmer (Oxford Brookes University) and Sally Blackburn-Daniels (The Open University) ran a series of online workshops exploring how art activities might be used to share different experiences of tinnitus.
The purpose of the workshops was to explore the following questions:
Workshop participants were given instructions and illustrative examples for six different art activities. The activities were designed to allow participants to use a range of creative methods, including drawing, map-making, creative writing, and sound recording. After completing the activities, participants were then invited to take part in a 2-hour online group discussion. A total of 37 people took part in the workshops.
More information about the workshops can be found in the project report. (tinnitus and the arts workshop report May 2022)
Click on each activity title to see examples of the submitted responses.
creating a map of where tinnitus is louder or quieter, or more or less noticeable
developing a self-portrait that includes tinnitus, showing where the sound travels from and to
exploring how tinnitus might be depicted without words by making a series of drawings
a creative writing exercise, where each person chooses a word or set of words that they associate with tinnitus and provides a definition for them
translating the sound of tinnitus into a ‘word-sound’ that is then used to create a visual score or sound recording
Finding, making and documenting sounds that relate to each person’s tinnitus in some way