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The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Portland nonprofit CymaSpace $90,000 for Universal Music Design, a year-long study of music and multisensory learning for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Researchers will examine cochlear implant programming for music perception and pilot school lessons, with findings intended to inform a K-12 STEAM curriculum.
The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Portland-based CymaSpace $90,000 to support a year-long study of music learning for Deaf and hard-of-hearing K-12 students. The Universal Music Design project will test cochlear implant settings aimed at music perception and pilot classroom lessons, with results intended to shape a STEAM curriculum.
The project has two research tracks. At Oregon Health & Science University, researchers will study cochlear implant programming designed to support music perception, alongside experiments in multisensory listening. A second track will pilot classroom lessons using tools developed by CymaSpace, with students at partner schools participating through Columbia Regional Inclusive Services.
The study’s planned curriculum brings together science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. The project builds on GestoLumina, a wearable interface that lets Deaf and hard-of-hearing musicians interact with music through gesture, haptic feedback and light. The tool was presented at the 2024 New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference.
A companion album made with Deaf and hard-of-hearing artists will be used for study listening and as material for the curriculum. Portland artist and audio engineer Sean Wolfe, who records electronic music as Salvo Beta and uses a cochlear implant, is working on the album and a related installation. The report also names project partners at Oregon State University, Eastern Washington University, Columbia Regional Inclusive Services and Telegraph Mastering.
Building Music Access Into Classrooms
The project addresses a distinction between how cochlear implants are commonly designed and how people experience music. According to the report, implant signal-processing strategies have largely been developed around speech intelligibility, while music perception remains difficult for many recipients. The study will test whether approaches focused on music, together with other sensory cues, can inform teaching methods and learning materials.
For schools, the intended outcome is not just a research finding about devices: it is a K-12 curriculum designed around Deaf and hard-of-hearing students’ participation in music and STEAM learning. The project may also provide educators and artists with practical tools for making musical activity more accessible. The source does not report results yet, so the potential effect on student engagement or learning remains to be measured.
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From Accessible Music to Research
CymaSpace is a Deaf-led arts and cultural nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon. The NEA grant supports its Universal Music Design work, which links technology research with classroom activities. Its earlier accessibility work includes the #deafjazz initiative, funded by South Arts Jazz Road, which explored ways to make jazz concerts accessible to Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
The research team is led by Dr. Shawn Trail, project director, and Deaf design engineer Dillon Simeone. It also includes Misty Jones Simpson, an associate professor at Middle Tennessee State University who uses bilateral cochlear implants. The report identifies an advisory board with researchers from OHSU, Oregon State University, Gallaudet University and Eastern Washington University. These affiliations indicate the project’s cross-disciplinary structure; they do not establish that the study has already demonstrated a particular educational or clinical benefit.
““Cochlear implants are currently built and tuned for speech, not music. This project asks what changes when we design specifically for music instead.””
— Dr. Shawn Trail, Universal Music Design project director
multisensory music learning tools for deaf students
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Study Results Are Still Pending
The report describes a study that is being launched, not completed. It does not provide the number of student participants, detailed research methods, measurement criteria, or a publication schedule. Nor does it give results showing whether music-focused implant programming or the classroom lessons improve engagement, learning or creative expression.
The amount and timing of the NEA-supported public workshops and community demonstrations are also not specified in the supplied report. The project’s stated goals should not be read as evidence that implant settings can be changed in a way that will benefit every user; individual outcomes and the eventual findings remain unknown.
accessible music education tools for deaf and hard-of-hearing students
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Research and Classroom Pilots Ahead
Over the planned year, the team is expected to conduct the implant-programming and multisensory-listening work at OHSU and pilot lessons with students through partner schools. The researchers intend to draw on both tracks, along with the companion album and existing CymaSpace tools, to develop a K-12 STEAM curriculum for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
The next meaningful updates will be details about the study’s implementation, any public workshops or demonstrations, and findings from the research and classroom pilots. The source does not give dates for those milestones or say when a finished curriculum will be released.
gesture-based musical interface for deaf musicians
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Key Questions
What is the NEA funding?
The $90,000 grant supports CymaSpace’s year-long Universal Music Design research project on music-focused cochlear implant programming, multisensory listening and classroom lessons.
Who is the project intended to serve?
The planned curriculum and classroom pilots are aimed at Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in grades K-12.
What will researchers study?
One track will examine cochlear implant programming for music perception and multisensory listening at OHSU. Another will pilot lessons with students at partner schools.
Have the researchers reported results?
No results are provided in the report. It describes a year-long study and planned classroom pilots; whether the approaches affect learning or engagement remains to be determined.
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