Immersive but not Inclusive: Challenges Faced by Underrepresented Groups in Immersive Audio
Creators: name: Gaston-Bird, Leslie
Publisher: name: University of Surrey
Year: 2024

description: Despite the efforts of organizations to improve the balance of participation in music technology
description: and audio engineering, representation remains low among women and minorities: fewer than
description: 10% of professionals are from these underrepresented groups (UGs). This figure also
description: accurately reflects representation for professionals in immersive audio, based on a review of
description: membership data from multiple organizations.<br>
description: <br>
description: This lack of representation is in part due to Barriers to Entry and Discouraging Influences
description: (BEDIs) including microaggressions, discrimination, and unequal access to training. Further,
description: interested women and minorities who express interest in STEM (Science, Technology,
description: Engineering and Mathematics), music technology, and audio leave earlier and at higher rates
description: than their white male counterparts due to these factors. This has been described as a “leaky
description: pipeline”.<br>
description: <br>
description: In order to counter these BEDIs, training programmes in STEM, feminist collectives, and
description: affinity groups have proved successful in mitigating BEDIs by providing role models,
description: networking, mentoring, and training in safe, affordable spaces.<br>
description: <br>
description: Given the success of those programmes, an invitation to a similar training programme in
description: immersive audio was used as the basis for a grounded theory (GT) study to discover the main
description: concerns of participants in immersive audio workshops and how they process those concerns.
description: The study introduces a grounded theory derived from open-ended, semi-structured interviews
description: with 23 participants. Analysis of the data consisted of identifying certain codes and categories;
description: constant comparison of those codes, categories, memos to find patterns and themes; and
description: theoretical sampling. The resulting GT presented in this dissertation is that the main concern
description: of UGs in immersive audio classes is “being viewed as credible”, while “leaking up, not leaking
description: out” of the career pipeline is the core category which explains how they attempt to resolve their
description: concerns. They do this by choosing whether to decipher established codes of credibility or to
description: circumvent these codes by going it on their own, pushing, learning, seeking mentorship,
description: innovating, seeking affinity groups, and teaching.<br>
description: <br>
description: Suggestions for future work include: refining mentorship and training programmes to meet the
description: specific skills identified by participants; identifying “leak points” in the career path; widening
description: studies on participation by including UGs working outside of the major studios that create and
description: distribute music, games, movies, and television content; and shifting the perspectives of
description: gatekeepers who are in a position to modify their recruiting and hiring practices by examining
description: unconscious bias and issues of trust and credibility. Incorporating these strategies have the
description: potential to reshape diversity, equity, and inclusion in immersive audio.<br>