Lancaster’s Psychology Department welcomed primary school children to explore hearing in the womb and amongst the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities through a range of VR experiences developed by the Innovation Hub, in partnership with Lancaster Music Festival.

The VR experiences were a joint endeavour by Drs Kirsty Dunn and Hannah Stewart of Lancaster’s Psychology Department and the Information Systems Services’ (ISS) Innovation Hub, who led on the technical development of the programmes. Conceptualised back in 2022, Dr Dunn’s first iteration of the experience took the form of a recording of a nursery rhyme edited to sound as though it was being heard within the womb as a part of the “Sounds of Science” Glastonbury exhibition. With the help of the ISS team and with the creative input of local band Massive Wagons, Dr Dunn has since transformed this into “Jukebox in the Womb” – which allows users to explore a simulated womb environment (complete with growing foetus), whilst listening to the rock group’s songs. Meanwhile, Dr Hannah Stewart has also been working with ISS to create a similar experience called “Cochlear VR”, which presents listeners to Massive Wagon’s music through the ears of people with varying levels of hearing loss and corrected hearing, including those with a cochlear implant.

The team showcased these experiences to a group of primary school-aged children as a part of Lancaster Music Festival on Friday 19th September. The children were welcomed into the University’s Great Hall, where they were treated to a short concert performed by Massive Wagons themselves. After this, the children were separated into small groups to undertake the VR experiences, and encouraged to think about how what they had experienced might help them to understand learning in the womb, as well as how to create a more inclusive environment for those who hear differently. Almost 60 children were given the opportunity to undertake the VR demonstrations, with their feedback of their experiences being overwhelmingly positive. Dr Dunn, her student volunteers, and the support team from ISS Innovation Hub were later joined by Massive Wagons frontman Barry Mills, who was keen to have a go on the VR headset. The band’s visit to campus – and their involvement in these VR experiences – will feature in an article for Classic Rock magazine in the coming days.

“Getting this project from the stage of a simple edited nursery rhyme, to using some of my favourite rock music in a VR immersive experience and watching the imagination of children come alive through it has been a very surreal experience!” said Dr Dunn. “For the future of these VR demonstrations, I’d love to get a sound engineer involved to create a more nuanced experience for users, as well as create a live filter so that, for example, different members of a family could hear what they sound like to their unborn child or sibling. Generally though, I'd like to be able to deliver these VR experiences to more people of all ages, to help more people get a bit more excited, creative, and imaginative around thinking about how the environment can influence foetal development.”

Project assistant for the ISS Innovation Hub Farzanah Parker added: “It was such an amazing day to be part of, and a really rewarding experience to see the work we do with researchers taken out of the office and being used to excite the brilliant, young minds of the future. The primary school children loved trying out our VR products, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing their excitement and curiosity throughout the event.”